Lazarus Rising
by Regin Ash
Summary: Sequel to Khaotic Katastrophe, Duke returns to Mallory and his young son Asher. In the shadows, a dangerous enemy is quickly rising to power; with the intent to finish what he's started. To kill Duke L'orange.  might want to read 1st story first
1. Chapter 1

Duke woke up to a dark room, with headlights from passing vehicles shining across the ceiling. Next to him, Mallory was asleep, one of her hands intwined with his.

A sudden soft beeping came from his long coat hanging over a chair. Gently he unwound Mallory's fingers from his and got up, his hand reaching into the coat pocket, pulling out a small communicator.

Slipping into the bathroom, he shut the door and opened the flip. "What is it that you had to wake the household?"

"When are you leaving Duke?" Drebeer asked. "We need you here."

"This is what you called me for?" He hissed. "I'm not leaving her, I don't roll like that. My father abandoned my mother and I and I'll be damned if I do the same."

Drebeer sighed, the rush of air spreading into Duke's ear like static. "I don't know why you went back, you couldn't just keep an eye from a distance like you did for a year."

"I don't have to explain myself to you Drebeer."

He hung up on the duck and shut the communicator off so further attempted contact wouldn't go through. Quietly he opened the door and slid under the covers.

Mallory shifted and groaned before shooting up straight, "Duke!"

"Hey, shh, I'm here," He pulled her towards him, holding her as she shook. "I'm here." He laid down, taking her with him.

She settled and shut her eyes, falling asleep.

**Morning**

Mallory walked out onto the front porch of the apartment-house she rented to see Duke sitting with Asher. The transition to getting Asher to understand Duke was his father wasn't hard. The child didn't really seem to care one way or the other.

Mallory had been most concern with how Asher viewed Regla, the duck had been in his life from the moment he had been born. The cop was almost like his surrogate father without the romantic feelings between him and Mallory.

Mallory had thought about attempting a relationship, but the pain of Duke's supposed death was too much for her to handle. All the emotions she had bottled and the tears she hadn't cried, hit her hard the week after his "death."

She refused to see anyone, didn't eat or sleep. It was finally Regla who forced a colleague of his to drive him to her house, missing a physical therapy session. It was him who forced her to get up each day and eat. Little by little, the pain subsided and she became herself again, just in time to give birth to Asher.

"Hey," Duke noticed her in the doorway of the porch.

"Hi," she wrapped her thick sweater tighter around herself as she drifted nearer. "You know about last night-"

"Don't worry about it," he replied.

She nodded, "Are you going somewhere?"

"I'll be back," he stood from the swing he had been sitting on with Asher. "Before tonight."

She nodded again, "okay."

…...

**Below the City of Ducaine**

Duke dropped into a hidden sewer drain hole, landing lithely on his feet. He was glad his boots were water-proof as he walked through the water that flooded the tunnel. Several twists and turns set him in front of a large iron door. He pulled a chain out from under his shirt and set a medallion into a sunken lock, turning it with a few loud clank sounds. He slid through the small gap and shut the door.

The Brotherhood of the Blade had taken some hard hits when the Saurians took over and receded to the dark alleyways and sewer system for their crippled headquarters.

Drebeer was waiting for him. "Finally." He sprung off a low rise wall.

Duke took a breath and let it exhale, his breath fanning out in front of his face. "Why I put up with you-" he muttered.

The black feathered duck remained silent as he kept his pace with Duke. Then, "you need to forget about her, she ain't one of us."

Duke felt a surprising surge of anger. He spun on his heel, his coat flapping around him, as he grabbed Drebeer around the throat, shoving him back into the stone wall.

"Whoa, whoa, hey Duke!"

"Talk about her like that again and I'll slit your throat. Not everyone can walk away with no conviction like you Drebeer."

Drebeer scoffed, "right. Does she even know you're here?"

Duke released him, "yes, she does know."

"Not the details though, no?" Drebeer smirked when he saw Duke look away. "Like I thought."

"Shut up," he finally seethed and started walking again with Drebeer barely keeping up.

…...

Mallory heard her apartment door open and knew it was Regla before he appeared. In the past year, he had grown into something like a brother to her. It was funny how she hated him with every ounce of energy she could possess not so very long ago. He had been Duke's arresting officer for a crime he didn't commit after Duke had landed the Aerowing when returning from Earth.

"Regla!" Asher dropped what he was doing and ran to the duck.

"Hey kid," Regla picked him up with some difficulty due to his previous injuries. He glanced around, "Duke's not here?"

"No, he had to go somewhere," she poured two cups of coffee, Tanya had found a rather large stash in the Aerowing's containment units and divided it out among the team. Being a native to Puckworld and not being blessed with the same worldly experiences as Mallory had living on Earth, it had taken a while for Regla to like the drink. He eventually abandoned his own preferred pure caffeine shots for the coffee, especially after a news special announced several ducks had dropped dead of heart attacks from it.

"Thanks," he set Asher down and took the cup. "Are you okay?" He reached out to her and then hesitated, his hand pausing next to her cheek.

She eyed his thinly feather covered fingers, another reminder of the day he had been trapped in a burning wreck.

"I've been having dreams," she began carefully.

"About what?"

She sat, uneasy.

He sat too, "I know what it was about."

"You do?" She felt a jolt of fear.

"Yeah," he took a long draught from the cup, "It was me naked."

In spite of herself, she laughed. When she had first met him, he flirted with her until he saw how loyal she and Duke were. Being as good of a friend as he was, he was able to make jokes like that without her killing him for it.

"Knew I could get you to smile," he finished his drink.

"No, it was not that," she gestured with her hands. Her smile died, "it's about Melyin Mox."

…...

**Mox Corp**

Melyin Mox squared his shoulders, the expensive material of his suit rustling, as he stared out the huge atrium window in his office. _Everything was going according to plan._ Duke L'orange was dead, Relga Winglude-well he was a different story. Mox's failed bomb attempt certainly _almost_ killed the pain-in-the-ass cop...but his day was coming, someday.

"You may have escaped this time Regla," Mox whispered, "But that mistake will not happen again."

The duck turned and flipped open a folder, pictures of a rather stunning petite red headed female stared back at him. L'orange's widowed girlfriend was definitely a beauty, the grey duck could most certainly pick them, Mox would give him that.

Yes, life was adding up for Mox. The truth of the matter was Weaver Redeye, the retired commander Duke had been accused of killing was Mox's own target. He had formed a liaison with that moron Falcone and it wasn't hard to manipulate the Raptrin into killing the duck, taking his grey feathered friend with him. Redeye had gone too far in his disagreements over the way the Council was being handled. No one was smart enough to realize the connection. Mox simply orchestrated the murder and sat back to watch it unfold. Damn, was he clever. Mox pulled his coat off the back of his chair with a flourish. There was someone he just had to meet.

…...

Mallory shut a piece of paper in her door for Duke, telling him she, Regla and Asher were going to Grin's apartment, he was the only duck who had managed to do well with a good sized apartment. After Duke "died", he and Tanya finally admitted the feelings they had harbored quietly, she moved in a month later.

Mallory took care not to address him by name on the paper, he had told her ducks would be after him if they knew he had never gone to the execution room.

"Ready?" Regla was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, next to the front door.

She took Asher's hand as he told her about the latest hockey stats with no breaths in between his words. Smiling at her son's nonstop flapping, she nodded.

Regla shook his head, his eyes on Asher and opened the door to see Melyin Mox standing on the porch. He immediately tried to shut the door, only to be foiled in his attempt when the duck stuck his foot in the doorjamb.

"Regla Winglude, you're looking well," the duck simpered, as he let himself in.

Regla glared back at him, no speaking, not trusting himself in front of Asher. Melyin Mox pushed by him to get a better look at Mallory.

"Miss McMallard, I'd like to express my deepest regret about your-" he paused, "-about Duke L'orange."

Mallory didn't like him in an instant, she had never met him before, but knew he was the cause of the car bombing that almost killed Regla. And for what? To keep him silenced on Duke's innocence? "Thank you," she forced herself to say.

Melyin Mox glanced down at Asher, his fake sympathetic facade quickly cracking as he took in the child's dusty peach colored feathers. "He's yours?"

"Yes."

Mox nodded slowly, his eyes twitching a little. "And his father?"

Mallory shrugged, "not here."

"Shame, that such a beautiful lady as you must be burdened by this situation."

"It's not a burden, he's mine. I wanted him."

Behind Mox, Regla was shaking with fury.

"I see," Mox said carefully, he took a step forward, resulting in Mallory taking a step back to maintain the distance. He smirked, "don't be frightened."

"I'm not," she replied coldly.

Frowning, Mox turned on his heel and strode to the door. He halted for a brief moment to stare dominantly into Regla's eyes, who returned the stare. As Mox stepped out onto the porch, Regla didn't bother closing the door quietly.

"Why is he here?" Mallory let go of Asher to go to the window, watching Mox get into his chauffeured vehicle. Regla joined her at the window.

"I don't know."

"How the hell does he even know where I live?" She turned away from the window and picked up Asher.

Regla didn't move from his place. "He's a council member, he has contacts who know everything."

"Regla, you're in danger, you know that, right?"

He didn't speak, but she saw him lower his eyes.

"If he tried to kill you once, he'll try it again. Stay here with me and D-"

"Shh," he shushed her. "Let's go."

Once outside and a ways away from the house, he spoke again. "We don't know how long he was there before we found him. He might have bugged the house."

_Idiot,_ Mallory scolded herself, was she really that soft on her training?

They made it to Grin's and Tanya's apartment with no further trouble. Nosedive greeted them at the door. "No Duke?" He asked disappointed.

Mallory shook her head, regrettably, as Asher squirmed in her arms. "Down, down," he squeaked.

"Okay, okay, hold onto yourself..." she set him down at which he ran to Dive.

"Deeve!"

"Hey little man," Nosedive caught him and hoisted him up.

Mallory entered the house, but paused when Regla didn't follow her. He was staring down the street, a serious look on his face. "Regla?"

Her calling him broke his concentration, he quickly rearranged his expression to a calm, collected one as he faced her. "I'm coming."

…...

**The Brotherhood of the Blade**

"L'orange, you have no choice," Timberr argued, standing before the Masters and other members. "We rescued you from that shit-hole, we can reverse your freedom in an instant."

Duke scoffed, letting his hands hit his sides, "I'm not gonna tolerate blackmail Timberr, so don't even try."

Timberr's scarred face twisted in contempt. Duke took a step forward.

"When you showed up in that cell, you said I could return without the pressures of becoming a full-fledged Blade member. And my ground hasn't changed."

"Drebeer-"

"Drebeer doesn't know shit," Duke snarled.

The duck in question shifted uncomfortable in the shadows.

Timberr cracked his fingers. "So your answer is no?"

"Yes."

Timberr paced, the Masters watching him move, as he pulled his thoughts together. "You know she's way far above your station."

Duke groaned, "here we go again. She and _I_ don't give a rat's ass."

"A what?" Timberr glanced at him confused.

"It's-" Duke began, "We don't care."

The Masters leaned in amongst themselves, whispering. Duke waited with barely any patience left. Finally they broke apart and called Timberr towards them. After a few seconds, he turned to face Duke, his face dark with displeasure.

"As you wish."

Duke took a breath, letting his chest rise and fall before he left the cavern.

…...

**Grin's apartment**

The Mighty Ducks had taken the news of Duke's escape before his execution rather well. Granted, they were more hurt than Mallory that he hadn't come forward sooner than a year, but with Nosedive being the first to forgive him, the others soon followed. Dive sat on the floor with Asher, sliding the kid's favorite puck back and forth across the floor.

Mallory stood from the couch and went to the gallery to get another drink. She turned away from the equivalent to a human's refrigerator and jumped. Regla was standing on the balcony outside the gallery slider.

"Shit," she cursed, shaking her wet hand from her spilled drink. After cleaning up the mess, she quietly joined him.

"Hey," he greeted softly.

"Have you given it thought?"

"To what?" He kept his eyes on the two moons in the sky.

"Living with me and Duke."

"I can't do that to you, both of you. I'm in and out at all hours of the night."

"So?"

"So, I'll wake you up."

She shrugged, "it didn't stop you when you had your crusade for my health."

He cracked a smile, "you're relentless."

She smiled too. "I'm an army brat, what do you expect?"

"You don't seem like the type that had everything handed to her."

"I'm not," she admitted. "I just don't think I can handle it if something really does happen. I was so sure you died on that operating table...and you did, twice Regla. You don't have nine lives...you have one and you were lucky."

He rested a hand on hers, as she held the railing in a tight white-knuckled grip. "If it'll make you feel better. I'll move in tomorrow."

"Tonight," she said, knowing she was pushing her luck.

He tilted his head, "your dream was about me wasn't it?"

She knew she had been caught, she looked away, her eyes coming to a rest on a black shrouded figure below them. "Duke's here."


	2. Enemies in the dark

Duke let himself into what he called Grin's domain, although now it was Tanya's domain too. With all the hidden message proverbs the big guy spewed, it just didn't seem right to call the place anything but a domain.

Mallory was first to greet him, with Regla not far behind her. He had seen the two of them talking outside as he approached. He didn't feel any ill emotions towards their time together; no jealousy or anger. He knew about Mallory's depression after he "died." And he would be forever grateful to Regla for pulling her out of it.

She embraced him and held on for what seemed like forever.

" 'ey, look whose decided to grace us with his presence," Dive came in with an empty bowl.

"Think he ruined the moment?" Duke whispered into her hair.

"I think so."

"Don't kill him," he held onto her to ensure she wouldn't try.

"Why not?"

"Well, Asher will be gravely disappointed when his favorite "uncle," is killed by his mother."

"True, damn," she shot the young duck a calculating look as he meandered out of the kitchen. Duke squeezed her arm and moved around her to get himself a glass. Mallory watched him go, thinking to herself.

…...

**Later**

Mallory and Tanya took responsibility for the dishes and spent the time together, washing and drying. "Are you okay?" The blond haired duck asked after the first few minutes passed in silence.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Mallory kept her eyes on the plate she was wiping with the towel.

Tanya stared at her over her purple rimmed glasses, "Mal, I know you better than this...what's wrong?"

"Nothing Tawn, I'm fine, thanks for your concern."

Tanya lowered her eyes and continued her washing. Mallory felt immediately shamed for snapping at her friend so.

"I'm sorry," she apologized and then took a breath, before quietly explaining, "Melyin Mox came to my house today."

Tanya slowed her work and then glanced at her in alarm. "What?"

"Yeah, I'm worried about Regla...Mox already tried to kill him once. And with him at my house today, it really hit me that he's around. And as long as he's snooping around, Duke is in danger as well."

"Then don't let Mox find out," Tanya suggested, matter-of-fact.

"That's your suggestion? _Don't let Mox find out?_"

"What do you want me to say?" Tanya handed her the wet dish. "Duke knew the risks of coming back for you."

"C-coming back for me? He came back for us."

Tanya shook her head, "no, he came back for you, you and Asher. He's aloof, he always has been. But you are his life."

Mallory felt her face color.

"That's the last one," Tanya changed the subject and drained the sink. "Are you coming?"

Mallory sighed and threw the towel onto the counter, "yes."

Beyond the glass, Drebeer stood, glaring at the petite female as she left with her friend. She was easy on the eyes, but he still didn't get L'orange's loyalty to her. She was a female, therefore nothing. She had better wait, what she deserved was coming to her, in more ways than one.

…...

Duke was dozing, but still fully alert to what was going on around him. It came as a learned gift after being a Blade member for nineteen years.

"He's asleep, already?" He heard Dive as his attempt to stage whisper failed.

"Shh," Wing hissed, "don't wake him up."

"He's not asleep," Regla murmured, his voice the closest since he was right next to him. "Want to know how I know?"

"How?" Dive was hanging on his every word.

"His fingers are twitching, its a habit he picked up while in Ducaine Prison; and he never slept there."

"Creeper," Duke muttered, he heard Regla laugh softly. Two pairs of footsteps sounded in the hallway, coming towards them. He picked up on Mallory's footfalls right away, her step so much more even than Tanya's. He opened his eyes.

Instinctively, Regla moved to create space for her between him and Duke, who also shifted. As she settled down, she glanced around the room and paused on Grin.

"What's wrong?" She asked, as he sat frowning slightly.

"I'm not sur-" He was cut short by the sound of bins clanging together outside, like someone walked into them.

Duke was up in an instant, the way he was carrying himself, rigid. Next to Mallory, an audible click made her look at Regla who had released the safety on his gun. Another noise made Duke relax.

"Drebeer," he muttered.

"Who?" Regla asked, a question that went unanswered as Duke left the room. He quickly got up and followed the grey duck.

"Just let me take care of this," Duke said as he shut the door in Regla's face.

…...

Duke listened hard as he crept around the perimeter of the duplex. He knew Drebeer was out here or at the very least had been here. He halted near the corner of the house where the noise had come from, pulling out his saber from inside his coat. Regla had taken it from the weapon department after he "died" and given it to Mallory. Taking a breath and holding it, he jumped out into the small alleyway, his saber activating No one.

He heard a rustling behind him, knowing it was Regla. "You don't listen still, do you?"

"Neither do you, so we're even."

Duke deactivated his sword and let the empty hilt slip back into an inside pocket of his long coat.

"Who's Drebeer?"

Duke rolled his eyes, "don't play cop with me Winglude, we ain't in a interrogation room."

The cream colored duck took a step forward, "I'm not playing, Duke, I'm asking as a friend."

"An associate if you must know, an annoying one," he added after a moment."

"Mallory's not in any danger is she?"

"No."

Regla put his gun away, "Mallory asked me to move in with you two for a while."

Duke watched him quietly.

"She's adement about it being tonight."

"Did she give a reason?"

Regla shook his head, "she changed the subject. She told me earlier she's been dreaming about Melyin Mox."

Duke walked towards the duck to stand next to him. "If that's the way she feels, then whatever."

"I guess I'll go with you two then when we leave."

Duke nodded, "sure."

They went back inside.

…...

Around an hour later, the group decided to call it a night. Mallory had fallen asleep on the couch; thinking better than to wake her, Duke left her to sleep and went upstairs to get Asher, who had been put to bed hours ago.

He didn't bother with the lights since he personally hated it when he woke up to bright shining objects in his face, and sat on the bed next to his sleeping son.

In the boy's hands, was the puck Wildwing had given him four months ago. The kid hadn't let go of it since.

Duke reached out to shake him awake when something caught his eye. An article with the title 'A Mishap in the Execution Room,' was laying near Asher's left foot. Duke picked it up and only read the first half of the first paragraph before his hand started to shake in fury.

"Da-" Asher woke up, rubbing his eyes.

Duke quickly willed himself to calm down, shoving the paper into his pocket. "Hey kid, we're gonna go, okay." He hoisted the child up and left.

…...

**Later**

Partially awake, Mallory insisted on making the couch for Regla. He let her do it, knowing arguing with her wouldn't get him anywhere. Duke had disappeared upstairs with Asher to put him to bed and hadn't come down since.

She finished with the bedding in time to turn around and see him shake a giant pill out of a prescription bottle.

She looked away to appear like she hadn't seen anything. She knew since his car exploded with him inside, that he needed to take steroid-like drugs to fight off any air-borne pathogens he might catch. He was physically weaker than he had been before the accident, therefore more prone to an illness that could permanently knock him down.

Soft footsteps were heard from the stairs, Duke appeared less than a second later. "Right, so Dive was telling me this insane story about how he thinks this front room is haunted, so if you get scared, Do Not blow holes is Mallory's walls."

Mallory made a face and went to stand by him. "You're funny."

"Always kid," he rested his hand on her back.

Regla swallowed his pill with water. "Really? I have the safety on, if you must know."

"Well, in my experience, cops shoot first and ask questions later."

"Whatever," Regla sat down on the couch, "see you-later today."

It was cold in the room, _colder than usual_, Mallory thought as she spat toothpaste into the sink. Glancing in the mirror, she saw the bathroom window open. _That's why. _She shut it and tried to lock it, but found something blocking the mechanism. Feeling under the window for where the latch was, she found a hard adhesive stuck to it, keeping it from locking. _What the hell?_

"Are you okay?"

She jumped at the sound of Duke's voice, suddenly so close. "You scared me."

He came farther into the room, "sorry."

"It's fine," she shut the window, not bothering with the lock. "Are we going?" She asked brightly, falsifying her tones to not sound so worried. She could tell he wasn't buying it, though he didn't say anything.

"Yeah."

She slid under the covers as he turned the light off, throwing the room into pitch darkness.


	3. Dangers arise

**Below the city of Ducaine**

"What the f*** is this?" Duke slammed the article he had found near Asher down on Timberr's desk.

"Duke L'orange," the duck shut his book and put his glasses on, "-glad to see you've returned." He glanced down at the article. "It's an unpublished article for the city newspaper."

Duke didn't appreciate the sarcasm, he leaned forward on his hands and got in Timberr's face. "If I catch any one of you wingless rats around my son again, I'll bring the Brotherhood down in one swift motion, got that Glydar Timberr?"

"Your little offspring is fine, is he not?" Timberr countered. "He didn't even know anyone was there."

"While I'm on a roll," Duke interrupted Timberr, "who was in Mallory McMallard's house?"

At that question Timberr faltered. "No one Duke."

"You're lying," he spat.

"No, I'm not," Timberr kept his eyes firmly on Duke's. "I wouldn't lie, not to you. Drebeer was at your friend's house last night, but he did not go to your-Miss McMallard's house." A slight pause ensued, then, "why do you ask?"

"Some of the locks were tampered with and a friend of ours who is staying with us said-"

"The cop," Timberr acknowledged sharply.

"Yes, _the cop _said he heard footsteps upstairs at one point. I thought I heard them too."

"Why didn't you go and investigate?"

"I did, Timberr," Duke replied sardonically, "by then it was too late, they were gone."

More silence.

Finally, Timberr paged someone and commanded for someone to come to his office. A few seconds later, his door opened, granting a woman who carried herself rather regally. She reminded Duke instantly of Lucretia DeCoy.

"L'orange, this is Mon'que De'Vase, she is the one who typed this article. She is a Blade member who had infiltrated the city newspaper. She skews the sightings and stories on us Brotherhood members so the City of Drake Ducaine never really knows what's going on with us.

"So many are rather annoyed with your decisions," Timberr got up and closed the distance between himself and Duke. "-And it's come down to this...you've got three days to make up your mind. Leave that little bitch and be with us where you'll be safe from the repercussions of your failed execution or leave, and be in a world of hurt when they find you and shoot you to death."

"And this time," Mon'que chimed in, "they'll be sure to shoot you in the forehead without that black hood on. My hand is just itching to publish that article."

Never in all of his thirty-one years of living, had he ever wanted to assault a female, but Mon'que was about to become the lightening rod Lucretia escaped from becoming. He took the paper out of his coat pocket and walked by her, shoving it in her hands as he left.

"You can shove it up your ass, sweetheart."

…...

Frozen rain fell from the sky, making Wildwing wishfully think of the warm Anaheim weather. He shook his head, sending the little ice balls spinning out of his hair as he walked. With Dive still in bed as usual, he hoped he could make it to the corner store and be back in time before the kid woke.

Halfway down the street, he spied a tall duck sitting on a stone wall, quite obviously not caring about the freezing weather. As Wing got closer he realized it was Duke, a thin sheet of ice frozen on the shoulders of his long black trench coat.

"How long have you been sitting here?"

Duke barely looked up, "I lost count of tha' minutes."

"Are you okay?" Wing laid a hand on the duck's shoulder apprehensively, fully knowing the act would make Duke wall up and state he was fine.

Instead, Duke responded almost listlessly, "no, I'm not okay."

The answer surprised Wildwing, Duke was never one to spread his feelings out for everyone to see. He was even keeled all the time, his laid-back facade on at all times.

"The Brotherhood wants me back full-time."

"To do what?"

"Teach others and to pull off heists like I used to." The grey duck glanced up at him, "I ain't much for teaching."

Wildwing shifted, "I'm not going to sit because it's wet...I'm also not going to tell you what to do. You do what you think is right."

Duke scoffed, "I know what is right Wing and it's what I want, but they don't give a shit. They want what they want."

"So tell them to shit in a hat," Wing shrugged. "Do you want to follow me? I'm going to the store."

"Sure." Duke stood up, pulling up the hood to his baggy sweatshirt to hide his face.

…...

_And I don't want the world to see me  
Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
When everything's made to be broken  
I just want you to know who I am _

…...

Duke stayed in Wildwing's shadow as the white duck meandered around the store, picking up various foods. "Dive is constantly cleaning me out."

Duke glanced at the teenage girl behind the register as she bobbed her head to what ever she was listening to with her MP3. She was completely zoned out.

"Is his room still like the remains of a bomb explosion?" Duke randomly picked up a book, only to scoff at it and angle it for Wildwing to see.

"The fundamentals of your love life, a blessing or curse," Wing read outloud, "nice. No, he's actually cleaner."

Duke dropped it where he found it. "Someone was in Mal's house last night."

Wing froze, "what?"

"Yeah, I don't know what to do about it. The Brotherhood swears it wasn't them and as much as they're a pain in the ass right now, I believe them."

"Do you think it's someone who _knows_?"

Duke shrugged, pushing his hands into his pockets. "Melyin Mox paid her a visit yesterday, I'd like to hope it's not him because I'll be screwed."

Wildwing remained silent, thinking. "Maybe-" he began.

However, Duke wasn't listening. Instead, he was watching a vehicle similar to one of those convergen vans the humans had, as it rolled by the glass wall that made up the front of the convenient store. The side door opened and he recognized the D267 as its barrel pointed at them.

"Shit," he shoved Wildwing down to the floor and dove behind a shelving unit. The glass shattered as bullets pierced its face.

He stumbled to his feet, keeping low to avoid the whizzing bullets and grabbed his friend. "Get up!"

Wildwing got to his feet too, and followed Duke as the grey duck made a beeline to the exit. That was when Duke remembered the teenage cashier, taking cover on the floor of her cubicle. He stopped dead, making Wing run into him.

"The girl-"

"Who?"

Duke pushed past him, "the cashier."

"Duke-!"

He grabbed the white mallard again, "listen to me. Follow the exit to outside, stick to the shadows and I'll meet you at the Tri-Pond."

"But-"

"Go Wildwing!" Wildwing listened, disappearing.

Duke ran and jumped over the counter, landing next to the girl. "Are you hurt?" The shooting abruptly stopped as the door to the store opened.

Duke froze, quietly he motioned for her to get up which she did, rising to her knees carefully, panic on her face.

Footsteps crunched on glass as boots alighted the littered floor. Slowly Duke inched up, enough to see over the counter. The shooters were on the other side of the store, checking the aisles. He returned his attention to the girl.

"What's your name?" He whispered.

"Lily."

"Okay Lily, you're gonna haf'ta trust me, okay?"

She nodded.

"Okay, let's go." He quietly climbed over the counter, keeping low, his hands out to guide the teen. She followed him. The shooters had vanished behind a shelving unit. It was now or never. He took her hand and made a run for the shattered front structure of the building.

He was sure they made it when a volley of bullets sprayed the metal structure, sending ricocheting bits in every which direction. Duke jerked the girl in front of him to shield her from the projectiles as they disappeared around the corner of the building.

They headed down a hill, the girl running faster than Duke. _When did that happen?_ For someone who could outrun Wildwing's kid brother at thirty-one years old; Duke resolved to reclaim his game if he ever made out of this problem alive.

He hit a patch of ice and tumbled the rest of the way down the hill, but managed to right-side up himself as he hit his feet on solid ground. _Damn, that hurt._

As the two of them entered Tri-Pond's entrance, Duke realized he had never told the girl to go there. "Interesting that you picked this spot sweetheart," he stated once they slowed their run to a walk.

Lily glanced at him, "I always come here when I'm in trouble. Thank you for coming back."

"No problem," now that his adrenaline wasn't rushing nearly as fast, he was starting to feel the pain from his roll down the hill.

Lily reached out to his shoulder. "You're bleeding." Her fingers came away wet with blood.

"Duke?" Wildwing had spotted him.

Duke pulled his coat back to see a bullet wound. "Damn."

…...

After walking Lily home, Duke, against Wildwing's better judgement, phoned an anonymous tip on the convenient store shooting.

Then they went home. Wing stopped at his door and turned to him. "Duke, we're moving in with you."

"What?"

"You heard me," Wing didn't blink. "We're family whether you care to admit or not. And, we're all safer together."

"It's not my discretion, ask Mal." Duke winced from the bullet lodged in his shoulder. Wing noticed.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

Wildwing moved towards his friend and pulled his coat back to see the blood, "jeezus Duke."

"I'm okay, really Wing. I've had worse injuries than this fighting Dragaunus."

"Mal will kill me if you walk through her door like this."

Duke shrugged with difficulty. "So don't tell her you saw me and this'll stay between us." He turned and left before Wing could say anything else.

…...

The house was empty when Duke let himself in. He went upstairs and shut the bathroom door behind him. Slowly he stripped, taking in the severe bruising his hill tumble had given him on his arms and legs. He reached into a drawer and pulled out a pair of tweezers. He took a breath and slowly prodded for the bullet.

A sudden knocking pounded the door. He jumped, stabbing the sensitive tissue around the wound. "Damn!" He hissed.

"Duke, you in there?"

Where had Regla come from? Duke had been so sure the house was empty.

"Ah, yeah, hold on a sec..." He almost had the slug, with a final tug, it came free, leaking crimson from the hole. He felt himself on the verge of passing out, not from the sight of blood, but from the sharp pain. He put his hand out on the edge of the sink to catch himself.

"You've got three seconds to open this door.

"One-"

Duke yanked it open before Regla got to two. "It ain't locked, smart one."

But Regla wasn't listening, "what happened to you?" His eyes traveled down Duke's swollen right elbow, bummed left forearm and knee.

"Decided to go skating, except forgot my skates," Duke replied sarcastically.

Regla rolled his eyes and grabbed Duke, forcing him to sit on the toilet. Then he noticed the bullet wound. "You've been shot...who shot you?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I don't know, it's the opposite of knowing something. Their faces were covered and I didn't stick around long enough to find out."

"You called in that convenient store shooting, didn't you?"

"I ain't tellin' ya,"

"Duke-"

"I'm not tellin' you because you're a cop Reg, and to the rest of the world, you're in cohorts with a executed criminal everyday. The less you know the safer you are from any repercussions."

Regla sighed, "let's get you cleaned up."

…...

Mallory began her walk home with Asher from the park. It was about six minutes into her walk home when she noticed the same black unmarked vehicle as it passed in front of her on a side street. _I'm being followed._ Her immediate instinct was to protect Asher. As the vehicle disappeared around a corner yet again for the third time, she picked up Asher and began to walk faster. A few minutes later the black car appeared again, closer this time. Mallory chose right into an alley.

"Mama,"

"Shh, hold on Ash."

The alley was dark, she could barely see. Behind her she heard a car door slam. She spun around to see a shadowed figure stepping into the alleyway. She backed pedaled and hit the brick wall behind her, it scaring her.

"No," she reached out to the wall, like her touch would make it suddenly become unsolid. The wall had to be ten feet high and there was not even a trash can for her to climb on to jump over it. She was trapped.

She sank to the ground, trying not to show fear for the sake of her child in her arms. She shut her eyes and waited.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," the voice teased.

"Mama," Asher whimpered.

"Shh," Mallory couldn't see a damn thing in front of her with all the gloom.

"Got ya," a hand grabbed her around the neck and dragged her forward.

She let go of Asher and attempted to break the duck's hold on her, as strong as she was, the duck was stronger. His hand tightened.

"You're a stunning little girl, you know that?"

"Go to hell,"

"Been there and done that, now where's your boy-toy...L'orange."

"He's dead,"

The duck threw her away from him, she stumbled back and hit her head against the narrow alley wall. "You're a lying bitch! Where is he!"

Behind the shadowed duck, Asher was beginning to cry. The duck turned to him infuriated.

"Shut that f***ing kid up now."

Mallory got to her feet and gathered Asher in her arms. "Shh, I'm here Asher, quiet." She looked up to see the barrel of a gun pointed at her forehead.

"Do you think a year old duckling will remember his mama's brains spattered against the wall?" The duck whispered.

Mallory covered Asher's eyes, if the duck was in anyway planning that, she didn't want Asher seeing it; hearing it would be enough.

His finger tightened on the trigger, "for the last time, where's Duke L'orange?"

"Dead, I watched him-"

The gun went off.

**Author's Note: Featured italic's in the beginning of this chapter is the Goo Goo Doll's song Iris. Thought it applied to how Duke was feeling and living his life at the moment.**


	4. New allies, Old friends

Mallory screamed as she and Asher were spattered in warm blood. The duck fell forward on top of her, dead, a look of surprise frozen on his face. She stared into his glassy eyes, unable to move.

Heavy booted footsteps drew closer and she found herself looking up at a black feathered male duck wearing baggy street clothes.

"Are you okay?" His tone was emotionless, like he really didn't care for the answer one way or the other.

He didn't offer to help her as she disentangled herself from the corpse. "Who are you?"

He didn't answer.

"Well, aren't you going to answer her?" A smooth female voice cut through the silence and gloom. A female duck with electric blue hair strode forward. When he still said nothing, she scoffed. "Forgive his rudeness, I am Mon'que."

"Who are you?" Mallory asked again.

Mon'que cocked her head. "We know Duke," she tilted her head towards the silent black duck beside her. "-on a rather personal level."

Mallory took a breath, "you're Brotherhood members aren't you."

"If we said yes, we'd have to kill you," the black duck replied coldly.

"Then do it," Mallory shot back boldly. "You already did it once."

The black duck's hand shot out, slapping her back into the wall. "Don't think I won't do it. Duke won't be around forever to protect your skinny little ass."

Mon'que scowled, "really?" She yanked his hand off Mallory. "The Brotherhood would crucify you if anything happened to Asher "Duke" L'orange the second's mother."

"What?" Mallory hung onto that bit of information. "What are you talking about?"

"Let's go," the male ordered.

"No," Mallory ran to get infront of them. "It's my son you're talking about...what are you saying?"

Mon'que exchanged glances with the duck.

"We have a car to get rid of," the male pushed by Mallory. Desperately, she turned to Mon'que for answers.

The female gave her a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry." She brushed by, leaving Mallory alone with Asher.

…...

In her rush to escape the car that had been pursuing her, Mallory hadn't paid much attention to where she had run to. As she attempted to regain her bearings, she unfolded the dead duck's wallet to figure out who he was.

She found a license and read, Flen DuGloy. Behind the license was another id card, a card with the heading of Mox Corp. She shoved the id back into its slot and folded the wallet closed. Not watching where she was going, she walked into a duck coming out of a pub.

As she started to say sorry, she realized she was in the beginning of the slums, a bad part of Ducaine city. It was no place for a mother and her child.

"Watch where ye'r going!" The duck snapped.

"I'm sorry."

The duck laughed humorlessly. "Ye will be when I'm done with ye." He moved towards her. What was it today with her constantly on the verge of getting her ass kicked?

"I have a son, I don't want trouble," she backed away.

"Then I'll make a mincemeat out of both of you and use his backbone as a toothpick."

"Hey, leave her alone," a different voice cut in sharply.

They both turned to see a skinny tan colored duck. He looked oddly familiar to Mallory. "Wot it to ye?" The duck snarled.

The tan duck took a step forward, "I said, leave her alone."

Under the dark washed out light from the thick clouds above them, as the duck came closer, Mallory recognized the familiar shape of the beak and eyes.

"Canard?"

The rude duck decided to leave the issue and stomp off. Canard watched him go before facing Mallory.

"Hey Mal."

"You were in Limbo...we all watched it-how-?"

"I don't know. One minute I was in a kaleidoscope-like environment and the next dumped out here of all places." His eyes settled on Asher. "He's yours?"

Mallory didn't answer right, she didn't want to admit that until a year ago, her life and the rest of the Mighty Duck's lives had been pretty okay in comparison to his. "Yes."

Canard nodded.

Mallory studied him. His clothes old and dirty, a clear sign that he had been living on the streets and he was skinny. "Come home with me."

He shook his head, "I can't."

"Canard, you're one of us...family. We were devastated when you-left. I can't leave you here."

He didn't look convinced, so she tried a different tactic.

"We're in danger...which means if they find out you're alive then you will be too."

He frowned, "whose they?"

"Mox Corp." She dug the wallet of the dead duck out of her pocket, handing it to him. He opened it and stared at the duck's picture. "He just tried to kill me."

He glanced up at her concerned. "Are you okay?"

"He was going to shoot me, his gun was touching my forehead."

"Where is he now?"

"Dead," she admitted. "I didn't kill him," she said quickly at his face, "someone else did. I didn't see them," she lied. "Please-come home with me..."

…...

"Were you a housewife in a past life?" Duke asked as Regla pushed a cup of coffee across the counter at him.

"A what?"

"You can't put the two togetha? A wife who works the house while the husband's away?"

"Oh," Regla sat down across from him. "I don't get Earth terms."

"Yeah," Duke rubbed his forehead and then took a sip. "Where's Mal?"

"She took Asher to the park..." Regla glanced at the clock, "she should be back by now," he added worried.

The front door opened, "here she is," Duke took another drink.

…...

"Just hold on," Mallory whispered to Canard. "I'm going to put him to bed." Quickly she darted upstairs.

Setting Asher on his bed, she removed his coat. "Asher?" He had been quiet since the alley. "Asher can you look at me?"

He looked up at her.

" I want you to forget what happened, okay? I know you were scared, but you're safe, okay? I'm sorry you had to see that." She ran her hand through his hair. "Okay?"

He nodded sadly.

"Okay, just go to sleep, I'm right downstairs, okay." She cracked his door and left.

Canard hadn't moved from the spot she had left him. "Come," she reached out to tug him forward gently.

Regla was first to see her enter the kitchen with Canard. Duke turned to see what the duck was so fixated on and froze when he saw who was standing next to Mallory.

"Canard?"

"Hey Duke."

Duke had a complete blank on what to say. It wasn't possible that Canard was standing in the same room as him.

"I was-on my way back here and ran into him..." Mallory explained awkwardly.

"Yeah," Canard glanced at her, "something like that," he added emotionless. Duke picked up on a strange air the two were projecting, but didn't comment.

"I see, are you stayin' somewhere?"

"I thought he could stay here, he's- he doesn't have anywhere to live," Mallory answered, she glanced at Regla. "Oh-sorry. Regla this is Canard, he was our first leader during the resistance...And Canard this is Regla Winglude."

"Hello," Regla greeted.

"Hi," Canard returned softly.

"I don't have a problem with it," Duke continued the conversation about Canard staying.

"I appreciate it, Duke, thanks." Canard gave him a ghostly smile. He switched his attention to Mallory. "You too. Thanks."

"Well, I guess this means I can go home, instead of being apart of this half-assed house arrest," Regla drained his cup.

"No," Mallory snapped.

"Relax Mal, I was kidding."

Her face burning, she muttered, "come on Canard, I'll show you where the shower is."

…...

She lowered herself to the floor after puking for the third time in the toilet. She had never felt so scared in her life. She had always known who to trust and on Earth, the Pond had been a very safe place. There were no holes for strangers to weasel their way in, Wildwing and Tanya had made sure of that. But here, on Puckworld, they were wide open for attacks.

She knew she could trust Duke and she did, but he was quite obviously back in leagues with the Brotherhood. She had known, yet had hoped he would keep a ten-foot pole between himself and the other members. On top of all that, she was being tailed by people from Mox Corp and there were people breaking into the house, sneaking around in the dead of night, she didn't know how much more she could take.

The door creaked open, making her jump and let out a surprised squeak, it was only Duke. "What's wrong kid?" His gaze landed on the contents in the toilet. He shut the lid and sat down next to her, pulling her close to him.

She could feel her eyes beginning to water. "I just never thought I'd have to lie to my child about anything. I was almost killed today. Someone from Mox Corp was following me and pulled a gun on me."

He had stopped breathing. Then, "well, ain't that funny. So was I and Wing."

She calmed herself down, "what?"

"We were in a convenient store when a van did a drive-by. I stayed to get the kid cashier out when they entered the place to look for me. We got out. He didn't hurt you did he?"

She shook her head. "Then I found Canard."

"How'd you get away?"

"Two Brotherhood members came, they shot him. A woman named Mon'que and I don't know the other one, he was solid black."

"Drebeer," Duke muttered.

"Oh."

"Wing said everyone's moving in here. He said we're safer together than apart."

"No, we're safer separate."

Duke shook his head, "you know that ain't true sweetheart, we can keep better tabs on each other and if anyone breaks in again, there's enough people for someone to catch them."

He cupped her face, "okay?"

She nodded, tired.

…...

It was around 20:03hours when there was a knock on the front door. Duke told Mallory to stay and got up to see who it was. Next to Regla, Canard was studying Mallory laying on the couch not blinking. After a few seconds, Regla's eyes drifted to her too.

"Hurry up damnit," Nosedive could be heard. "It's friggin cold out here."

"As you wish Ma'dam," Duke replied sarcastic.

Canard let out a low laugh, "never thought I'd miss that pain-in-the-ass."

"Well, my house, my rules," Mallory said, "no fighting."

Canard raised his index and middle finger together, "scouts honor."

Tanya was first to enter the living area and she froze at seeing Canard. "My god." It wasn't long before the rest of the team stood equally stunned.

Mallory sat up. "I thought it would be easier to see him then explain over the phone."

Wing tried several times to say something, but each time failed.

"Plus, he smells better, no offense Can," Duke sat next to Mallory.

Canard shot him an amused look, "Thanks L'orange."

"You look good," Dive was first to speak.

"So do you, nineteen huh? No longer the behavioral-challenged little punk I had to deal with a few years ago?"

"Nah," Dive grinned, "still as much of a pain-in-the-ass as you used to call me."

"Guess I can deal," Canard gave the kid a smile back.

Their jokes to each other broke the ice, "I'm glad to have you back." Wildwing moved past his team as Canard stood. The two embraced.

"It's good to see you made it back."

Wing grew somber, "the mask was destroyed Canard, during our last fight with Dragaunus. I'm sorry." He reached into his side pack and pulled the two halves of the mask out.

Canard took it from Wildwing, studying the cracked surface. "It served its purpose. Besides it's nothing that bonding glue can't do to put it back together, it just won't work." He gave it back to Wing.

…...

It was late into the night when Mallory woke up from dozing. She didn't remember going to bed as she looked around. Duke wasn't beside her, fully awake she swung her legs over the side of the bed, getting up.

The house was quiet, in the next room adjoined to hers, Grin and Tanya were fast asleep. She tiptoed by them to get to the hallway.

Before going downstairs, she popped her head into Asher's room. On a cot, Dive was also asleep, his hand extended to her son's. His tiny fingers curled around Dive's. That was when she noticed a splash of blood. She pushed the door open wider in horror, Dive was dead. A bullet wound in his forehead.

"Dive-?"

She stumbled out of the room and went back to Grin and Tanya, seeing now they were also dead, shot to death.

Behind her, in the hallway, she heard footsteps. She darted for her room and slammed the door shut, trying to lock it. It was shoved open on her, throwing her off balance. A dark figure without a face strode into the room, a gun pointed at her.

Fight over-road her flight response. She grabbed for the weapon, but was easily restrained. "No! No!" She fought back with every ounce of strength she had.

"_Mal- wake up! You're dreaming, wake up!"_

She heard her name, but couldn't compute anything.

"_I can fix this," an unknown voice said. _

She felt a hard slap across her face and a strong hand grab her beak, "wake up." She snapped out of it to see the black duck-Drebeer-standing in front of her.

Behind the duck, Duke was being held by Wing and Canard, his face twisted in fury as he glared at Drebeer.

"Let go of me, damnit," he yanked his arms free from the two. He turned to Drebeer, "get the hell out."

"I can't do that, Mox wants you dead and the Brotherhood doesn't...see the confliction?"

"Will you two shut up," Tanya snapped, quite unlike herself. She knelt next to Mallory. "Are you okay?"

"I'm twenty-five Tawn, I think I can handle a dream." She stood up and felt the room give a spin. Regla caught he before she fell to the floor. "I'm going to be sick."

She left the room and shut the door behind her, retching. She heard the door open and Duke arguing with Tanya.

"No Duke," the blond female was saying firmly. "Stay out." She locked the door and grabbed a washcloth. "What a night this has turned out to be, for cripes sakes."

After wetting it, she handed it to Mallory who took it, washing her face with it. "What happened?"

"We were about to call it a night when you got up, your face blank and you just walked out of the room, it was kinda creepy. Duke asked you if you were okay, but you didn't answer. So Regla said he'd follow you but before he could even get up, you started screaming like someone was killing you. It was horrible to hear you like that."

Mallory couldn't remember any of that, "I'm turning into a nutcase."

"No, you're just strung out, stressed."

"I can handle stress Tanya, thank you."

"Not this much stress. You're making yourself sick over it." Tanya sat on the lip of the tub across from her on the toilet. "We're here Mal and personally, I think it's a good idea that Wing brought up, we are stronger together. Think of it like Dragaunus...we're chasing a lizard."

Mallory wiped her eyes with the cloth and then nodded.

…...

"You touch her again and I'll f***ing split you in two," Duke was saying.

Drebeer seemed more amused than threatened. "It woke her up didn't it?"

"That's not the point," Regla snarled, equally as enraged as Duke. The rest of the team had decided silently to let Duke and Regla handle it.

Mallory opened the door, "it's two in the morning...if you feel the need to continue this pointless argument then do it later today."

Duke calmed himself down almost immediately, but Mallory knew it was a mask he was putting on. He wasn't any less pissed than he had been seconds before. "I'll show you the door."

Drebeer laughed, "did you not hear me L'orange? I said I wasn't leaving. Timberr wants me here."

"And I don't,"

Drebeer shrugged, "not my problem, you're not my superior..._anymore_."

"Fine, you can spend the night outside, you're used to it."

Drebeer glared at him but didn't argue.

They were almost out of the room when Mallory spoke up, "Duke-"

He turned.

"-It's sub below zero...are you really going to force him to stay outside during the coldest part of the day?"

Despite his arrogant and frigid attitude, Drebeer's face slackened into an expression she couldn't read.

Duke remained quiet for a moment. "Fine," he looked at Drebeer, "don't touch anything."

Drebeer stayed silent.

"I'm going to bed," Mallory passed them and went upstairs.

…...

**The next morning**

Mallory was awake long before Duke. She laid for three hours, simply studying his features as he slept. It kind of surprised her how age between them disappeared once they got serious. Of course they were adults so in the scheme of things, it didn't matter, but she had always sworn to find someone close to her age. Duke was six years older than her, long ago she would have had a problem with it, now she didn't care.

Reaching out, she let her fingers brush the premature grey streak in his hair. _It suits you._

Quietly she left the bed and went downstairs, past Wing, Canard and Regla who were all in the living room still, out like lights.

She turned the kitchen light on low and tensed when she saw Drebeer sitting at the table, his head resting on his hand. _He's going to be sore after sleeping like that all night._

She started to pad past him and jumped when she saw him watching her. "You're awake."

"I know," he replied sarcastic, but with no trace of malice behind his words. It was almost like Regla kidding with her.

She turned her attention to making coffee.

"Thank you for-letting me stay inside," he began haltingly, awkward.

"Your welcome." She paused, "I hope its brought you over whatever hump you think is between us."

He cocked his head. "I suppose it has...I'm not a people person Miss McMallard, I don't get along with others, never have."

"Why are you here?"

"Timberr thinks I'm better served here."

She thought about it for minute. Then it hit her, "you're an assassin aren't you."

He moved his head a little, "among other things. The bottom line is Duke's lineage has to remain in tact and that includes at least one of you. Duke would rather it be you."

"Why?"

"So you can raise that kid upstairs. No harm is to come to him, those are the Masters' rules."

"But why?"

Duke's a Blade member and so is that kid, unofficially of course."

"Asher is not becoming a Blade member, over my dead body. That's no life for a child."

Drebeer studied her, "true. Then at the very least Duke L'orange's son can't die. That's why that smuck the other day died. He threatened you and the kid."

"There'll be more of them,"

"And that's why I'm here. You, Duke and that other duck were almost all killed yesterday. That was too close."

She set the colombia coffee bag down and took a seat next to him. "It's more personal to you. You're just not showing it."

He didn't blink, then, "Duke's my half-brother. I'm older by a year. Asher is my nephew, so I'd say it's personal."

"And you two fight like you did last night?"

He cracked a smile, "we're polar opposites...he cares more that's what I've been told." He paused, "you know at first I didn't see what he does in you...but I think it's becoming clearer."

She looked away.

…...

**Mox Corp**

Mox lazily blew smoke in the air as he waited for Flen DuGloy to come back with a report. He knew that little rat of McMallard's was L'orange's and it enraged him that the two had created a lineage together. A scrawny little brat that would grow up to be as much of a nuisance as his father. If McMallard was killed with him, it wouldn't trouble Mox any, though he liked the idea of her living without her spawn.

He glanced at the clock, pissed that DuGloy was three minutes late. Did everyone think he had nothing to do? Finally a page came in looking a little green.

Mox threw his hands up in anticipation, "well? Send him in."

"S-sir, are you sure...there's been bit of a prob-"

"NOW Sly!"

The page jumped, "right away sir."

He waved someone in, which turned out to be several ducks carrying buckets.

Mox sat up straighter, "what is this?"

The delivery ducks didn't answer, instead dropped the buckets on his desk in a line and left. Sly was shaking near the door as he waited for his boss's reaction.

Mox stood up, clenching his cigar in his mouth and pulled back the first bucket's cloth that hid the contents inside. What he saw made his cigar drop from his mouth. "What the-"

…...

Mallory pulled the extended part of the table out and fitted it into place so the table was longer. With ten ducks, she hoped there would be enough room. While Drebeer took a shower, Regla shuffled into the kitchen, still half-asleep. "Hey."

"Hi," she stirred the breakfast she was making that was very similar to oatmeal.

He sank into Drebeer's empty seat, "he still around?"

"Shower."

"Ah, I hope his attitude's improved."

"It has, somewhat. He's Duke's brother...well half anyway."

At that he perked up, "brother? I didn't know Duke had a brother and I've been research that slime for years."

She raised her eyes at him calling Duke a slime.

"Referring to him like that in the best possible way," he quickly added. "I'll stop calling him that when he stops calling me Reg."

"And tha ain't never happin'" Duke entered, carrying Asher.

"Right Slime."

"Okay Reg."

"Will you two knock it off?" Mallory took Asher away from Duke who exchanged a goofy grin with Regla. "God, it isn't even nine o'clock yet."

"I thought you'd be fighting with that other dude," Canard and Wildwing came in.

"Oh yeah," Duke remembered. "Where is that as-?"

"Duke!" Mallory jerked a thumb at Asher.

"-that _person_?" He finished lamely.

"Right here," Drebeer appeared wearing clean clothes. "It's funny you didn't tell Miss McMallard about us."

It took Duke a few seconds to catch on. "It wasn't dire information to tell."

"What are you two closeted or something? Regla was rapidly becoming awake.

The two brothers gave him a look. "Reg-"

"I'm sorry I don't think we've met. Who are you?" Drebeer interrupted Duke.

"Captain Regla Winglude of the 495 Precinct, downtown," Regla extended his hand mockingly. "And you?"

"So this is what you get when there's a extensive amount of testosterone in the same room together," Mallory said loudly to make herself heard.

Canard and Wing smiled at her remark.

Her comment broke up the beginning argument though. Drebeer sat across from Regla, his eyes set calculatingly on the cop.

"We're brothers," Duke explained.

"I know," Regla rubbed his hands together.

"You know? How?"

Next to the stove, Mallory felt her face heat up, maybe she shouldn't have told Regla, it wasn't her information to tell. This was a good way to start a fight between her and Duke, he was being forced to tell instead of it being his choice.

"Somewhere in your mountain of paperwork it's mentioned," Regla lied.

"That's impossible," Drebeer sneered, "my own mother doesn't know about Duke."

"You callin' me a liar? I'll bring the case file home and have you sift through over a thousand pages of paper until you find it and I doubt you will unless you know where to look."

Drebeer narrowed his eyes but didn't respond.

A ringing cut through the silence. Regla dug for his communicator and opened the flip. "Winglude."

He listened.

"What? Yeah I know Flen DuGloy."

Mallory dropped her spoon, the utensil clanging against the stove. Canard glanced at her, attempting to keep his face from showing anything.

Duke got up to help her clean up the mess. "What's wrong?" He whispered. She shook her head and brought her eyes down to Asher in her arms as a warning. He understood.

"Buckets? How-? Do I even want to know?" Regla paused, "That's-nasty."

More silence. Once the floor was clean, Mallory straightened to see Canard intoning in Wing's ear, no doubt explaining what she had told him the day before.

"If DuGloy is at-well what's left of him anyway, is at Mox Corp, I'm not going," Regla rubbed his face. "Why? Because the f***ing brat almost killed me last year, that's why."

Mallory groaned at the swear. _Was it much to ask with not swearing in front of Asher?_

"I don't care if it wasn't proven, I know he had someone strap the CW5 to my ignition switch...if your memory doesn't stretch back that far then dig up the investigation records I know the precinct kept on me. I'm not going, tell the chief I'm emotionally compromised, say that I realized that on my own."

Mallory could hear the other person's incoherent words.

"Goodbye Diesel," Regla hung up on the duck in a mid rant and shut the phone off.

"What was that?" Duke asked.

"Someone sent Flen DuGloy to Melyin Mox in-" he halted in a mid-sentence, his eyes on Asher. "-buckets."

"What?" Tanya, Grin and surprisingly Nosedive entered at that exact moment.

Mallory shifted her gaze to Drebeer, horrified.

Regla glanced at her and noticed her stare fixated on Drebeer. He turned to face the black feathered duck. "What did you do?"

Duke looked between the two. "Wait, you're not saying- that-Arron..."

For a moment Mallory wondered who Arron was, but then realized Drebeer couldn't possibly be his name.

"I killed him, but I didn't send him anywhere in buckets."

"How can I believe you?" Regla snapped. "You just said you killed him."

"Wouldn't you have? Do you even know the full story cop?"

"I don't give a damn about the story..."

"You might if you knew it had to do with _her_."

All eyes turned to Mallory. She sighed and turned the burner off. "Flen DuGloy tried to kill me yesterday. He cornered me in an alley and was about to use execution style with Asher watching. Melyin Mox sent him. He was looking for you." She met eyes with Duke.

"So, I saved her peachy little ass before that smuck could kill her," Drebeer sat back in his chair. "But I did not send him in pieces to visit Mox, though codos to whoever thought that one up. Are you gonna arrest me?"

Regla stayed quiet.

"What's wrong? Emotionally compromised cop?" Drebeer baited.

"I'm not going to arrest you for that, but I might for you being a royal pain in my ass."

Drebeer smirked.

"The air is thick with vengeance and mistrust," Grin spoke softly. "We need to gain each others trust."

"Is that somehow geared to just me?" Drebeer asked.

"Well I don't know Arron, are you done with being a pain and being mistrustful?" Duke leaned into towards his brother.

"One, don't call me Arron and two, you're one to talk about trust."

"I did learn from the best," he clapped Drebeer on the back, earning a scowl from the duck.


	5. Holes in the World

Life continued, Drebeer hardly communicated with anyone except for Mallory and even then their conversations were limited to two words.

Canard quickly adjusted to the new route his life had taken. Mallory silently wondered what happened to the strict, stiff Canard Thunderbeak that had led their resistance team three or ten years ago. She also noted how he, like them, hadn't aged since life on Puckworld continued without them. Something about Limbo had slowed the aging process for him. It was hard to adjust to the time lapse.

Letting herself out of the house quietly, she sat on the porch swing, listening to the heavy downpour, wrapped in a thick blanket to counter the damp coldness. As much as it surprised her, she missed Earth. Yeah, so maybe there were only the six of them, but they had each other and they had a purpose there. With Dragaunus being sucked into his own Limbo portal after attempting to send Wildwing into it, their mission was over.

Here on Puckworld, the ducks didn't have a purpose except to get up each morning and live their days until the sun went down, only to repeat the cycle the next day. _It's mundane, except for Duke._

He was the only one still feeling a thrill with his life as he attempted to stay in the shadows from his enemies and balance life with his son and her.

Suddenly, she stiffened and stared into the far corner of the front yard. She thought she saw movement. Nothing was there so she settled again.

…...

Tanya found herself in an awkward situation when she walked into the kitchen to see Regla and Drebeer in a staring match. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No," Regla answered, his eyes not leaving Drebeer's face.

The backdoor opened and Duke entered, soaked. "Damn, could it rain any friggin harda?"

"Apparently not, since you made it through the rushing river in the backyard," Drebeer broke his eye contact from Regla, his expression clearly stating he wasn't happy about losing.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Duke replied.

But Drebeer wasn't listening, he abruptly stood. "Duke."

"What?"

Drebeer shot forward with incredible speed and knocked Duke to the floor as several somethings shattered the window. He yanked his younger brother up and shoved him out of the kitchen. Duke stumbled to his feet and saw the kitchen was lit up with thin tiny red pointers. _Lasers. Holy shit, they're trying to snipe us...me._

"Mallory," he whispered and turned around, heading for the front door.

She collided with him just as he jerked the door open, "Duke!" She grabbed him in a hug. "what's happening?"

"I don't know..."

In the background he could hear gunshots being exchanged.

"Listen to me," he held her by her shoulders. "Go upstairs to Asher."

"What? No-"

"Mallory," he snapped, "there's no room for debate. Go!" He forced her up the first few steps of the stairs.

She disappeared upstairs.

Duke reentered the kitchen in time to see a hooded figure burst through the backdoor. Drebeer dropped his gun and grabbed a book off the table, driving the spine end into the intruder's throat. It caught the person by surprise, making them gag. Drebeer didn't give the person time to recover. He quickly slammed the side of the book into the face and gave the duck a powerful frontal kick, forcing them out the way they came.

Regla grabbed Duke and pushed him back, "get out and go to Mallory..."

"I'm not leavin' ya,"

"Too damn bad, L'orange, get out."

"F*** you Regla."

The cop swung around, the barrel of his gun suddenly finding itself in Duke's face. "Go before I shoot you for stupidity."

That was the second time Regla had said that to him. Duke unconsciously backed away.

…...

He found Mallory sitting on the floor between their son's bed and the wall, holding him. He lowered himself next to her and took his coat off, hoping the inside of it wasn't too wet as he draped it around her shoulders. He pulled a blanket off the bed and settled it over the three of them.

"You left them," she asked in undertone, her words neither a question nor a statement.

He looked down to see Asher was asleep.

"Regla made me leave. He threatened to shoot me if I didn't. Drebeer's tough, he can take them."

She nodded. "My window is going to cost me."

"I'll fix it for you."

"With what?" She stroked Asher's head.

"My good looks," he offered with a half smile.

Even with all the trouble she knew was going on downstairs, she couldn't keep a straight face. "What are we going to do?"

He grew serious. "We know this much, Mox either knows I'm alive, suspects I'm alive or thinks you know something. We have to take him down, someway; whether its exposing him to the public or actually killing him."

"Murder," Mallory acknowledged listless.

"Yeah."

"Exactly what got you into this mess in the first place."

"Us, into this mess," he reiterated.

…...

**Downstairs**

Canard couldn't believe he was in another life or death situation, what was it with him that he couldn't ever enjoy a nice peaceful day? He demanded to have Regla's spare gun and was now out in the pouring rain, the gun cocked in his hand, looking for one of the two intruders.

He had already found guy # 1 out cold from Drebeer's attack.

Someone ran into him and grappled him, trying to choke him. He rolled with the impact and managed to throw the attacker off and land on his hands and feet. The person backed away and broke into a run for the fence. Instinct made Canard dive for the fallen gun and shoot the person in the leg. The duck cried out in pain and hit the fence instead of clearing it.

"Got ya," Canard muttered.

…...

The ducks watched with no comment as Drebeer tied the caught would-be assassin to a chair in the basement. The black duck finished and then noticed a lamp sitting on a table.

"This yours?" He directed his question to Mallory who had hesitatingly come down the basement stairs.

"No, it's the landlord's, why?"

He didn't answer, instead he plugged it in and tilted the bulb and shade so it blinded the tied duck. Lazily, he turned a second chair backwards and straddled it, facing the duck.

"So, we're going to play a game...I ask questions, you answer and if you don't then you're going to be missing a few extremities, understand?"

The duck remained silent.

Drebeer looked up from pulling open a wicked looking switch blade and viciously kicked the duck in the leg where Canard had shot him. The duck jumped as some of the watching ducks winced.

"Understand?" Drebeer repeated.

The duck bobbed his head in agreement, reluctantly.

"Now, who do you work for?" Drebeer reached out and yanked the duck's mask off his face. He froze for a second as did everyone else when they saw how young he was. But then Drebeer was over it.

"You already know that answer," the duck spat.

Drebeer smirked, "don't make me kick you again. I won't miss your wound this time."

The duck scoffed and then spat at Drebeer, "go fu-"

Drebeer had him by the throat before he could finish his sentence, bending his head back. "I'm going to slit your throat and watch the dust and anything else come out..."

The kid glared into Drebeer's eyes determined.

"I guess I need to hurt something." Drebeer brought the knife towards his fingers. The teenager at first looked doubtful, but as Drebeer brought the blade closer and closer, his dubious manner evaporated.

"Hey, no..."

Drebeer didn't listen.

"Wait!"

Drebeer put his other hand on top of the blade and slapped the knife down like he was chopping carrots. The blade sank into the chair arm with the kid letting out a scream.

Mallory spun away, sickened. This was torture, something she didn't believe in in the least bit.

"Mal, Mallory," Wing was next to her, "he didn't hurt him."

She turned back, confused.

"He didn't get the kid's fingers."

She looked and saw the kid's fingers were still attached, the knife was buried less than a few centimeters away from the tip of his nails.

"Now, who do you work for?" Drebeer repeated for a second time.

…...

**Later**

The Puckworld's Special Forces or PSF had used torture many times, mostly on Raptrins. It was funny to Mallory how racism was spread out all across the galaxy especially on Earth, planet she had called home until a year ago.

Sometimes her presence was called upon for those times of interrogation and sometimes she wasn't. If she could help it, she tried every time to get out of it. She could do any other whim that the PSF wanted her to, except that. It just wasn't right, the pain and fear in the prisoner's eyes turned her stomach.

Drebeer left the kid in the basement in the total darkness which also irked Mallory. No duck could survive isolated and in an environment that was blindingly dark. Duke had barely survived in Ducaine Prison where he was exposed to the same treatment.

While the others were outside, having figured out the other duck was gone, Mallory took a cut Glii (similar to a fig) and descended into the basement.

The kid was where he had been left, freezing in the middle of his struggle to get free. She readjusted the lamp so it wouldn't blind him and turned it on.

His wrists were raw and chafed from the rope that he had been rubbing against to get free. She tried to ignore it.

"I brought you food, thought you might be hungry."

The kid looked everywhere but at her.

"He's gonna send someone for me," he finally said, his voice eerie and calm. "And they won't stop until the floor is thick with blood."

"What is wrong with you? What do you want?" She hissed. "What does Mox want?"

The kid stared at her, his face cold.

It was then Mallory took a good long look at the boy sitting in front of her. He was skinny but yet obviously strong if he had managed to take Canard by surprise. His fingers which he had seemed so fearful of loosing as would anyone really, were crooked. She reached out to them only to have him flinch away.

"Your fingers were broken," she murmured. "Who broke them?"

"No one," he responded, his voice fearful.

She knelt to his eye level, "what's your name?"

He was shaking.

"Do you have a name?"

"Once upon a time," his tone was now flat.

"What was it?"

He let out a breath, "Jenner."

"How old are you Jenner?"

"Sixteen."

She dragged Drebeer's chair over and sat next to him. "I'm not demanding information, but I do need to know...will you answer me?"

He drew in a ragged breath and then nodded.

…...

Mallory took the basement stairs two at a time and wound up in the middle of everyone straightening her apartment. She hadn't taken the time to pick up the shattered window pieces nor to even think about cleaning her house period. For a brief second she had misgivings for not helping, but then she was over it.

Canard took a step back from fitting a compound wood frame into the broken window with Wing. He was first to see her.

"I know what Mox wants," she backed away to return to the basement.

…...

Everyone filed into the basement again except for Tanya who remained upstairs with Asher. "So he's talking now?" Drebeer snarled, his eyes on the skinny teenager.

Mallory stood protectively in front of the kid, keeping him mostly hidden from Drebeer. "You're not to touch him Drebeer."

The black duck's eyes narrowed.

"And I promised him we'd untie him."

"You what?" His voice rose.

"He'll tell you everything you want, but he's to be freed."

Drebeer stood frozen, "are you insane? The f***er physically broke into this house, he's probably the same one whose been trip-traipsing all around this house at night...weren't you the one complaining about it?"

He strode forward, at which Mallory slid in front of Jenner, walling him off from the irate duck. Drebeer stopped within inches from her face.

Behind her, Jenner shrank back as far as he could being tied.

"He's a child Drebeer, remember that."

"That don't mean shit around here, a seven year old Blade member is dangerous as far as I'm concerned."

"Your point?" She snapped back.

"Let him go," Duke piped up, his arms crossed.

Drebeer 's head swiveled to his brother. "Duke-"

"There's more of us then there are of him, let him go." Duke didn't blink.

Mallory heard his teeth grind, and then with lightening reflexes, he ripped his knife along the rope, freeing the kid.

Jenner stayed where he was, seeming to believe he was safer in the chair than anywhere else in the room with Drebeer around.

"What's so f***ing important?" The black duck snarled.

Mallory turned to the kid, waiting for him to explain.

"Freditch Mox had a lot stock and places where he could throw his weight around. There's a lower level in Mox Corp that not many know about." Jenner gripped his chair, wringing it nervously. "Experiments are done and people go in but never come out."

"When is this going to have a purp-?" Drebeer began.

"Shut up," Regla snapped.

Jenner looked up to gaze at Duke. "You were a thief for the Brotherhood and stole something from Mox Corp."

"Yeah, I was like thirteen," Duke shifted.

"It was in the basement..." Jenner was becoming more and mor less willing to talk, Mallory could tell.

Duke was trying to remember what the kid was talking about, he couldn't.

"That's all I know," Jenner offered.

"That's it?" Drebeer scoffed. He moved forward threateningly.

Jenner flinched, "wait-I remember them talking one night about him-" his eyes flickered to Duke. "You have holes in your memory...holes that not even you know that you have."

Everyone focused on Duke.

"That's impossible..." He argued. "The only memory loss I have is from when a stove blew up and threw me through a door."

"You have more, according to them." The kid was keeping part of his attention on Drebeer.

Duke shook his head slightly. "That's impossible," he repeated. "I know."

"Mox has many ways of screwing with you," Jenner looked at the floor. "I'd know."

"You've lived in the basement?" Canard asked.

"All my life, I've been given certain privileges since Mox likes me."

"Good," Drebeer's unwavering gaze became menacing.


	6. Techno to be or not to be

"Are you insane?"

Drebeer threw his hands up in the air and spun around, one hand gripping the doorframe as he leaned, waiting for Mallory to say what ever it was she was going to say. The rest of the team stood behind her, listening.

"He's a kid, you can't send him back, they'll kill him."

"Not my problem, he should have thought about that before he broke in here, a losing battle in my mind."

"If he doesn't want to go back then _you_ are not making him."

"Who died and left you boss?"

"I'd be asking you the same question, you snit."

At being called a snit, Drebeer cocked his head, slightly taken back. "Did you just call me a snit?"

But Mallory had stormed out of the room.

…...

Jenner waited a good ten minutes before he even attempted to get out of the chair the black duck had tied him to. The bullet in his leg hurt like hell as his muscles stretched while standing. Just as he straightened, the basement door opened and he quickly fell back into his seat.

It was only the other female he had briefly seen during the break-in.

"I'm going to take that bullet out, it could get infected."

He didn't answer.

For close to an hour she sat with him, carefully prodding for the bullet. She finally found it and numbed his leg so he wouldn't feel the pain.

He had never been numbed before, his many ordeals with Mox Jr. were always painful. _That was nice of her._ The word 'nice' was foreign to him.

She wrapped his leg and then gathered her tools, pulling him from his thoughts.

"That's it?"

She glanced at him. "Yes." Then she paused, focusing on the left side of his head. "That's quite a scar you have. Where'd you get it?"

Confused, his fingers drifted to his head, feeling it. "I don't know."

Tanya knelt next to him, studying the thin line cutting through his dark blue feathers. It ended at the fold of his eyelid and crisscrossed to where if her memory served right, the optical nerve was in the brain.

"Can you see okay?"

"Yes."

Tanya felt unnerved by what she had found and the fact that he seemed truthful to saying he didn't know.

…...

**Mox Corp**

_That female is too smart for her own good_, Mox thought as he stared at the tv screen. The fact was when Experiment 0385 or Jenner as he referred to himself was ten years old, Mox had him undergo a procedure. A very simple procedure to fit small optical lens to the kid's corneas. Jenner, unbeknownst, was a walking 24/7 video camera. Melyin Mox's walking video camera.

Many of his enemies had been taken down because of his golden boy and this group ducks would be no different.

Mox rewound the tape and paused it on Duke L'orange. So the mother f***er had escaped, that slippery son of a bitch wouldn't escape again, as far as Mox was concerned. Duke L'orange was the only surviving patient of Mox Corp who had had his memory tampered with. Even with Jenner spouting secrets that Mox would punish him for later, Duke had no idea what he was talking about. _Good._

Mox flipped the tv off and swiveled his chair around to face his father's portrait while drinking from a wine glass.

"_Why couldn't you see it my way Father?" _Mox whispered. "_Mox Corp is everything you wanted it to be and if you had just listened to me...you'd still be alive."_

From the time Mox was nine-years-old, he was on the fast track to becoming a criminal mastermind. Freditch Mox had always been too busy to see the monster his child was becoming and fatally realized it too late. When Melyin was seventeen, thirteen year old Duke L'orange strutted in to steal the Hundra Ice, a jewel that had been in the Mox family's possession, _legally by Melyin's hand,_ for three straight years.

That had been Melyin's opportunity to try the memory tampering experiment he had been researching. It was simple, Melyin gassed Duke in the middle of his heist, had the kid strapped to a board and approximately twenty hours later, Duke woke up, never remembering a thing from the heist to even being ordered to steal it.

Ooo, how he loved science.

But now, adult Duke L'orange was becoming a threat. Melyin was beginning to have suspicions that as the subject got older, the "amnesia" would start to unravel. Duke would have to be killed before this happened, otherwise he'd be a living testament to the illegal experimentation. And that, would not happen, if Melyin could have his way. And Melyin Mox always had his way, almost anyway. That f***ing Ducaine City cop was becoming as much as a nuisance as Duke.

He couldn't believe that Regla Winglude had survived the blast. The duck should have been toast. He had underestimated the duck's will to live, that's what saved Regla, he was a fighter. _Well, I will not fail again._

…...

Tanya closed the bedroom door behind her, troubled. Grin turned to face her, his own face shadowed by the lamp and darkness outside.

"Are you alright?"

She released the catch of her omnitool and laid it on the bedside table. "I'm not sure."

He turned his body all the way around, studying her in concern. "What is it?"

She took a breath, "Jenner seems like just a kid caught up in trouble, he doesn't strike me as someone evil."

Grin nodded, "I don't feel any particular aura of maliciousness from him either."

"-But I feel that he's dangerous even if he doesn't know it."

Grin blinked, "did you find something?" He closed the distance between them, reaching out to touch her hair and face.

"He has a scar running from his left eye to where the optical nerve is in the brain...I just got this creepy feeling when I looked into his eyes, almost like-" She halted.

"-Almost like what?" He prodded gently.

"Like there was someone staring back at me, not just him," she finished.

Grin felt himself get a chill. "Duke-"

Tanya stared back at him, horrified. "Oh no."

…...

Everyone was somewhere in the living room, having crashed either in a chair or on the two couches. Mallory paused when she heard boots pounding down the stairs. Tanya and Grin appeared, fear at different degrees in their expressions.

"What's wrong?" She sat up straighter from her lean against Duke.

"It's about Jenner-" Tanya answered breathless.

…_..._

"I don't know anything...I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"Sure you don't," Drebeer sneered.

Jenner shifted his gaze away from the duck, uneasy.

"Can I just look for a minute?" Tanya asked. "Only for a minute, I promise."

Drebeer scoffed, "here's how it goes, you let her _look for a minute_ and if you don't, then we'll do it anyway without your consent."

"No."

Drebeer grabbed the kid by the neck before anyone could stop him and hauled him against the wall.

"Arron!" Mallory didn't even know what possessed her to call him that instead of Drebeer.

"You are a f***ing spy, you little ingrate...If you have anything like cameras in your eyes then by damn, we're going to remove them even if it means me scooping your whole eye out with my knife...you got that!" Drebeer shook the kid, his grip tightening.

Jenner was choking.

Out of nowhere, Duke slammed into Drebeer, knocking him off balance. "Keep your hands off him. I believe Mallory already told you once." Duke bent down to drag the kid sucking in air to his feet.

He pushed Jenner gently into Mallory who surprised herself by opening her arms to pull him close to her. She had never seen herself as the mothering type. The teenager shook in fear against her.

"He ain't the enemy Arron, the enemy is out there and he is very powerful-" Duke jerked a finger to upstairs. "I've spent a year skulking in the shadows and listening to your complaints...I'm done. You're either with us or against, chose and know if its against, then get out."

Drebeer remained silent, eerily half consumed by the darkness. "Alright."

"What?" Duke snarled.

"Alright!" Drebeer snapped back, "I'm with you."

"Then stop bullying the kid and leave him alone unless you're giving him some constructive criticism or being nice." Duke took a breath. "Now Tanya, can you examine him?"

Jenner shifted away, "no."

"You don't hav'a choice kid," Duke stared at him. "Do you wanna go back to Mox?"

At the mention of Mox, Jenner froze. "No."

"Then you're going to let Tanya look at you and you're not gonna fight her or us."

…...

Canard stabilized a wooden chair against the basement table so that it reclined without falling to the floor. Jenner's tiny knuckle bones were sticking out as he gripped the chair arms in a death grip. The kid was shaking. Canard ignored it, the kid was going to have to deal with it.

Then he had misgivings, being Mox's puppet for sixteen years had to be no picnic. Obviously the kid hadn't grown up with out some form of physical or psychological torture or a combination of the two.

Canard's gaze landed on the kid's oddly formed fingers. _Yeah, life's been a bitch to you._

Tanya extended a small pencil light from her omnitool, flicking it on. "I'm going to shine this in your eyes...if you can, try to blink as least as you can."

She pulled a small magnifier out too, positioning it over his left eye.

"Do you see anything?" Canard asked.

"Give me a minute," Tanya murmured. "I see something. It looks like it's surgically connected to his cornea and his retina."

"That's great," Regla huffed, "we can't remove whatever it is if it's attached to his retina."

"We could," Drebeer muttered.

Everyone paused, looking at him.

"No," Mallory hissed.

Drebeer shrugged.

"I could try to take it off his cornea..." Tanya continued after a brief awkward pause. "I think..." She flicked a small switch. "I see it."

Everyone moved forward, including Drebeer.

"Well?" He finally demanded, no one argued with him this time.

"It is a camera...I can see his nerves have grown around it. This is incredible..."

"Tanya," Canard interrupted her.

"Right sorry, it looks like the lens to the camera itself is attached to his cornea."

"Can you remove it?" Grin asked.

"I think so...it would dismantle the camera, leaving who ever watches the feed blind to what ever Jenner sees." She shut her tiny light off. "But I have no way of knocking him out. I've had eye surgery, it isn't fun even after being given happy juice."

Drebeer studied Jenner. "you drink kid?"

Mallory glared sideways at him, "you're not serious."

"Sometimes," Jenner answered.

Drebeer shrugged again, "I'll get my bottle." He disappeared upstairs.

…...

Jenner gagged on the Whis that Drebeer gave him. "This is too strong..."

"It'll knock you out quicker."

"If he dies of alcohol poisoning, you die." Mallory paced uncertain in front of them.

"Relax, he won't die of poisoning."

Within ten minutes, the effects of the alcohol was evident. Jenner was beginning to lose consciousness. "Why am I drinking this again?" He slurred for about the third time.

"You can't sleep," Drebeer lied.

"O-oh."

The black duck caught the half empty bottle as Jenner suddenly passed out.

"This is such a felony," Regla breathed next to Mallory.

She agreed. Giving a minor alcohol easily bought you a month in Ducaine Prison on charges of reckless conduct.

"What are you waiting for?" Drebeer asked Tanya. "Go."

She drifted nearer, her expression clearly stating her own sentiment on making Jenner wasted. "Okay."

She carefully taped the kid's eye open and selected a flat sharp tool. Carefully, she scrapped the cornea, taking care to not push too much. "It's coming off."

"His cornea?" Nosedive looked like he was about to be sick.

"No, the camera lens."

"Oh," Dive didn't appear convinced.

"I almost have it-"

"Tanya," Dive snapped, "we don't need a blow by blow description please."

Canard hid a smile with his hand.

Tanya straightened with a translucent film on the edge of the tool she had. "I'll have to study this...if no one minds-"

There was the sound of a body hitting the floor. Everyone turned to see Dive passed out.

"Weak stomach, eh kid?" Canard teased.

…...

"Kid, wake up," Duke smacked Dive across the face, who quickly came to.

"Sea monkey's got my hockey stick-my-o-wha? What happened?" Dive glanced around wildly.

"You fainted," Canard was enjoying himself.

"I fai-? I don't faint Canard," he snapped.

"You did just now." He reached down and helped Duke tow the kid to his feet.

Across the room, Regla was next to Tanya studying the lens. "I've never seen anything like it," the cream colored duck was saying.

"I haven't either and I've been in the science field for a while. I'm interested in knowing how he doesn't have sight damage." Tanya was awed by what she was seeing. "This is serious invasive surgery."

"I think we should put it back in him and use the lens for our purpose," Drebeer was perched on a table.

Mallory faced him with a face full of scorn, "you would think that. That would involve Mox killing him."

"As long as we get the information that we need, it wouldn't be a lost cause."

"Am I the only one with a brain?" She snapped.

"No," Regla chimed in, "I'm right with you Mal."

Drebeer glared at Regla, "you don't even know the kid, you're both acting like he's a son that we're shipping off."

"Aren't you?" Duke asked, crossing his arms. "Without the son part, aren't you trying to ship him off? I get what you're saying-" he added quickly at Drebeer's face. "-But I just don't see how it'll accomplish anything."

"We'll get the intel we need."

"If anything, we keep him around here for a few days, get _our _priorities straight and then we bring him along to Mox Corp and use his abilities to break in."

No one objected to that.

"That's actually a really good idea," Wing stated surprised, forgetting for a second that he had ahold of Dive who was still weak at the knees. He managed to correct his mistake before his brother hit the floor. "Sorry baby bro."

Duke took a step forward, putting himself in the center of the misshapen circle of his team and friends.

"That kid is our only way of getting in, he knows passwords to get passed checkpoints and he knows every laser beam and camera. If he can get us in, then we can stop this once and for all." He glanced at Mallory. "We can have normal lives again."

"So when do we do this?" Regla asked.

"Us, not you," Duke stared at him right in the eye. Regla made a face.

"Duke not now-"

"No Regla, you not now...Mox already tried killing you once and we all know he's looking for a way to do it again."

"Wait a second," Drebeer interjected, "what does he want with you?"

"He hates me," Regla replied. "Plus, me antagonizing him that day probably didn't help much."

"What?" That was news to Mallory. "What did you say?"

He shrugged, "I don't remember, it was a year ago. He interrupted me and the Chairman so I told him to run along or something and let the adults talk."

"That must have pissed him off, isn't he a few years older than you?" Drebeer was all ears, his interest for once peaked.

"Makes no difference to me, he's a spoiled brat."

A pathetic groan alerted everyone to Jenner awaking up.

"Make him drink water, it'll get rid of the hangover faster," Drebeer commanded.

"No Drebeer, you make him drink water since you got him smashed," Mallory laid a hand on the kid's arm.

"I feel si-" Jenner doubled over, puking. Despite herself, Mallory jumped back to avoid the spew. She glared at Drebeer to make her point, he understood it.

…...

**Night**

Drebeer sat in the kitchen with the kid who had his head resting on the table. "Drink, it's the only way you'll feel better."

Jenner shook his head miserably. "My stomach hurts."

Slightly concerned, Drebeer hoped that the red-head wasn't indeed correct because A) he'd never hear the end of it and B) he actually was starting to take a liking to the kid...not that anyone would ever know that.

He pushed the glass in front of the kid's beak, "drink before I force you to drink."

Slowly, Jenner reached for the glass and tried to pick it up, only to slop it down the front of himself as his hand shook.

Drebeer rolled his eyes and grabbed a towel, mopping up the mess. "You really can't hold your liquor, what the hell do you drink? Flo?"

Jenner was silent for a minute, then, "Flo is for wimpy people."

"You got that right," Drebeer snapped, not really angry. "Water, now."

Finally the glass made it to his mouth and he started to gulp it down. Drebeer yanked the glass away.

"You're gonna make yourself sicker... sips."

Jenner leaned back in his chair, only to almost fall out since he was sitting in the chair sideways and there was no back to lean against.

For an hour Drebeer made him drink slowly before towing the kid to the living room to sleep off the rest of the alcohol. Regla laid unmoving, watching as Drebeer attempted to help the kid maneuver onto the couch. The black duck's gestures and low tone were awkward like he didn't really know what to do in the situation of helping a kid.

_'Guess you ain't so bad afterall._ The cop thought as Drebeer left the room and the kid began to snore quietly.


	7. Amber Alert

_And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming  
Or the moment of truth in your lies  
When everything seems like the movies  
Yeah you bleed just to know your alive_

…...

"Come on, you haven't gotten soft in your motherhood, have you?" Nosedive taunted Mallory as they went at it on the mat.

Mallory, personally, didn't like the idea of Drebeer watching her as she sparred with the kid. She felt like he was studying her moves; so she wasn't putting forth the proper effort.

"No," she took a few steps back, to regain her bearings.

"I want a go," Drebeer appeared at her shoulder, making her jump slightly.

Nosedive looked uneasy, "sure." He scratched his head and sat next to Jenner who had tagged along to the gym complex.

Mallory tensed with anticipation as she attempted to read her opponent who remained totally unemotional. Drebeer was an excellent fighter, she could tell, no emotions, calm, cool and collected, the C's.

Suddenly he made a roundhouse kick to her head. Instinct made her drop to the floor and roll to her feet in a new location on the mat. He didn't give her time to recover, appearing in front of her as she got to her feet, throwing punches. She spun to his right and jabbed her elbow back into his solar plexus, catchng him off guard, stunning him for a second as she made connection to his abdomen. She paused, hoping she didn't hurt him.

For her troubles, he flipped her.

"Never wait to see the damage..." he leaned over her, hands on his knees. "I thought PSF taught you that?"

She didn't answer, instead ignored his out-stretched hand and got up herself. Quickly, she spun with her own roundhouse kick to his head. He caught her leg in midair, holding her that way. She struggled for balance.

In a flash, he had her on her back, his hand cushioning the blow to her head as she hit the mat. "You might want to brush up on your skills there kid."

She paused as he said the word 'kid' because for a moment, he sounded like Duke. _But he's not._

…...

**The Elementary Learning for Hatchlings**

Asher sat on the steps of the school waiting for his mother to pick him up. Around him, the other hatchlings were playing, yelling and tossing pucks back and forth with amateur hockey sticks. He wasn't in the playing mood. Opening his pack, he fished for the puck Wildwing had given him not too long ago. He couldn't feel it, so he glanced inside to see everything but.

A feeling of loss came over the little one as he attempted to remember what he did with it. Glancing around, he spied a small black disc not too far away from where he was sitting. He got up and went to it, the closer he got seeing it was his puck.

_My puck._

He bent for it, as his hand closed around it, a cloth was forced over his mouth, forcing him to breathe in a smelly fume. He lost consciousness almost immediately.

…...

**Five Minutes later**

Mallory was distracted as she walked. Maybe Dive was right, she was getting soft. The school was coming into sight as she crossed the street and avoided a puck that some kid wildly whacked. _Asher is never to play hockey like a moron..._she thought. Then she made to smile, that was the Anaheim hockey player talking.

Looking among the kids, she didn't see Asher so she went to the first teacher she saw. "Excuse me."

The teacher turned, "yes?"

"Do you know where Asher L'orange is?"

The teacher's face pinched for a second before a smile broke out, "oh Asher, yes a cute boy, he was already picked up."

"He was? By who?"

"His father..."

"Huh," _Where the hell is the communication Duke?_ "He didn't tell me."

"Really, oh I'm sorry you had to walk all this way."

"It's okay, thanks..." Mallory turned and left.

…...

The "teacher" watched Mallory McMallard leave the courtyard, a smug look growing on her face. She pressed a button on her communicator and said, "it's all set."

Mox smiled gleeful, "thank you Moria...by the time she gets home, we'll be at Mox Corp...a long enough distraction."

…...

**Home**

Duke heard Mallory enter the house and rubbed his eyes; staring at the Mox Corp blueprints was beginning to give him eye strain.

"There's an east entrance..." Regla murmured, "it's overshadowed by the Cardinal building...odds are no one will see you."

"Hmm."

"I say we don't use stealth and let him know we're coming," Drebeer pushed his chair back on two legs.

"He'll fry you," Jenner stated softly. "He has a fully upgraded laser system."

"We have to be careful," Tanya warned, "it's always been Duke who's broken into a building first and we've followed."

"Your reputation proceeded to this Earth I imagine?" Regla glanced at him and then Mallory who entered the kitchen.

"Duke, why didn't you tell me you picked up Asher?" She pulled her coat off.

Duke snapped his head in her direction, "what are you talking about?"

She paused, not liking how much confusion was in his features. "The school told me you picked Asher up."

Duke stood up, facing her. "Asher's not with you?"

"He's not with you..." she realized. The weight of her words froze her. "Oh no." She turned and ran out of the house.

Duke caught up with her as she reached the end of the front yard. "Mal-" He grabbed her. "Wait a second..."

"I don't even know where to look, where do we look?" She was on the verge of hysterics. "Duke, where do we look?"

He didn't know, but didn't want to admit it. He wanted his son back as much as she did. He took a breath, "I don't know."

Her legs gave out on her, he caught her and holding her.

…...

Drebeer stood still, barely breathing as he surveyed the punching bag in the basement. Then without taking the precautions to wearing gloves he gave in to viciously pounding it, ignoring the pain that over and over again lanced in his fists. Finally he ended his tantrum with a spinning kick, sending the bag swinging wildly.

From the dark stairs, Jenner watched the black duck wage war on the punching bag. He had only been in the company of his would-be victims for two days, but he was quickly growing comfortable with them. He wished he had never tried to kill any of them, Mox was the liar and the evil one.

As for the kid, Jenner was as concerned as the rest of them. Before Asher disappeared, Jenner didn't want to go within a thousand clicks of the Mox building; but now, he wanted nothing more than to turn Mox's weapons against him, starting with Jenner himself.

_Mox made me a weapon, it's time I act like one._

…...

"I'm not drinking it, I'm not drinking it damnit," Mallory tried to whack the cup away but Regla pinned her down. "No!"

"Mallory shut up."

"Mallory, please," Tanya pleaded. "It's going to calm you, that's all."

"It's going to drug me, go to hell!" The red head snapped, she tried to fight against Regla holding her immobile. _His pills are doing him justice, he's regaining his strength._

"Give it to me," Regla ordered. He didn't wait for an answer, instead he took the cup and forced her to drink the contents.

"Mmf, No-" she tried to protest.

Despite her struggles, Regla succeeded in making her drink, she felt the effects of what ever it was immediately. Her limbs felt tired and she was finding it hard to remember why she was so riled up.

Duke came into the room in time to see her blink sluggishly. He hadn't wanted to do that to her, but Mallory McMallard wasn't above running out on them and looking for Asher by herself..

He sat next to her as Regla let go of her. "We're looking for him. I'll be back."

…...

Jenner passed by the front door, slowing when he saw a disc laying on the floor. He picked it up and recognized the family seal of the Mox family. His stomach flipped.

…...

Wildwing flicked the computer on and slid the disc into its drive. A window appeared with the word play stamped across its frozen pixel screen. He clicked on it, making a video bloom on screen. Melyin Mox was staring out of the screen at them, his eyes eerie in the half darken room.

"_Hello,"_ the duck began, "_if you are watching this then you've figured out I have the L'orange kid. I laugh at the notion that none of you thought I'd figure it out. And so I say this, I will wait, I will wait for L'orange, Winglude or any of you other nameless faces I've yet to meet to come and rescue him. And know, I look forward to seeing you again Duke L'orange..."_

With that, the video went black.

Duke didn't move, his eyes set on the computer screen.

"We'll get him back, Duke." Canard's voice was soft.

Duke made a noise.

"We can't go rushing in there, he'll kill us that way. We need a plan-" Duke shoved Canard back into the wall.

"Need a plan huh? Go to hell Canard, You don't get Mox, Asher's probably missing two legs and a tongue right now."

"I do get it," Canard didn't try to fight him. "I want him back as much as you do...but the point will be moot if you get yourself killed."

Duke let him go and glanced around the room at the occupants. "You've got six hours." He left the room.

…...

**Hour 1**

Regla sat at the kitchen table with his head in his hands, thinking. Since becoming personally involved with Duke meaning working with him last year during his incarceration, Relga found his judgement was going down the shitter.

He was trained in the Academy to be objective and to see all criminals as no-good. But that didn't fit Duke L'orange. The duck was a criminal, ex-criminal, whatever, but he wasn't evil. He took crime to a different level, planning and executing it with something like honor. It put Regla in a tight spot.

The 495 Precinct was under the impression that Duke L'orange was dead, having been executed by the firing squad a year ago. No one knew Duke was alive, except Regla and it could screw him. By being Captain, he was under specific obligations. He could be imprisoned for "being in cohorts with a criminal..."

He let his fingers travel down the side of his beak, feeling the roughness, a courtesy of the fire he had been burned in also a year ago.

He knew what he had to do and if it wasn't handled right, he'd lose his job and his freedom.

…...

**Hour 2**

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Dive grumbled for the fifth time.

"You volunteered," Canard reminded him.

"Yeah, before I knew what you wanted me to do."

Regla parked outside of the 495 Precinct. "I'll go easy on ya kid."

Dive snorted.

They got out, where Regla quickly slapped some cuffs on Nosedive.

"Ow."

Regla paused; Dive gave him a goofy grin.

"Just kidding."

Canard slapped him in the back of the head, "be serious kid."

Regla glanced at Canard, "go around the back, I'll let you in."

The tan duck nodded and disappeared.

Regla took a breath and led Dive into the Precinct.

…...

"Right line for complaints, left line for tickets and the center line for booking," a scruffy duck was resting his head on his hand, repeating those words in a bored voice.

"Hey Vander," Relga brought Dive up to the window.

" 'ey Cap...whose this? Looks new."

"Some punk who thought he could outrun me, I caught him obviously."

"Please!" Nosedive launched into a rather impressive breakdown. "My grandmother is ill and my mother is in a depression and my father-" He paused, quickly thinking up something, anything. "My father is a stripper down at the Chord and he has a boyfriend." He let his knees buckle, and resting his head on the counter, sobbing.

Regla resisted rolling his eyes. "Okay, get up you drama-queen."

"Please, we don't have any food- my little sister is failing school-" Dive trailed off as he was blinded by a sudden flash from the camera.

"This one ain't gonna last," Vander sniggered.

Regla smiled, "I know." He towed Dive away and sat him down on a bench, cuffing him to it. "I'll right back...hold on," he whispered.

He left the kid and went to his office to get his keys for the artillery room. He opened a few drawers, searching for them, missing Lexer Goodall who leaned against his doorway.

"Hey Cap."

Regla jerked up straight. "Lex...I didn't see you there."

Goodall shrugged, "I'm quiet." He studied the cream colored duck. "What are you looking for?"

"Umm, keys, and I found them." He closed the drawer.

"Regla,"

He paused, watching Goodall.

"I've noticed you've been visiting Mallory McMallard a lot."

"And?" Regla asked, a little too sharply.

Goodall looked away, "how is she? It's been a-a year."

…...

Dive waited while Regla disappeared into his office. He didn't like how he was restrained to the bench, but knew it was necessary. Suddenly two tough looking ducks about the size of Grin were seated on either side of him.

He tried not to look at them. "Come on Reg," he intoned through clenched teeth.

"You're new," one of the duck's rumbled.

"Yup," Dive answered, trying to look uninterested.

"Why don't you say we-"

…...

"Lex...what are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing, the chief gave me the night off, why?"

"I need a favor."

"Hey Regla," a dark haired female cop popped into his office. "Two goons are harassing your kid."

Regla glanced out his office window to see Dive a little stressed as two of the local mobster Xavier's muscle men sat on either side of them. "I have to go."

Goodall followed him, "what's the favor?"

Regla glanced at him, "never mind." He went to leave

"Regla,"

Regla paused.

"Forget for a moment that we're cops, I'm your friend Regla. What's the favor?"

…...

**Hour 3**

Regla rescued Dive from the two bruisers and led him and Goodall who followed slightly confused.

Regla stuck the artillery key into the door and turned it. He let Dive and Goodall go first, before disabling the sound in the room, making it soundproof. "Duke L'orange isn't dead."

Goodall froze, "what?"

"He wasn't executed."

"And you've known this?" Goodall glanced at Dive who seemed relieved as Regla removed the cuffs.

"Yes, he's only just come back within the past three months."

"Who was executed in his place? I watched it on tape..." Goodall demanded.

"I don't know...someone else who was ahead of him, I guess."

"He is innocent, you know that?" Dive interrupted.

Goodall looked unsure for a moment, "yeah, I know he was."

"I need you to cover me, I'm taking some tools."

"For what?"

"A job..."

Goodall blinked, "you don't trust me."

"No, Lex, I trust you...the less you know, the littlest amount of trouble you'll be in."

Goodall turned away and then faced them again, holding a clipboard. "What do you need?"

…...

**3 ½ Hours**

The drug had worn off enough for Mallory to think straight again, in time for Regla and his two passengers to return with three duffel bags.

"How'd you get theses?" Wildwing picked up a bulletproof vest as Regla opened the first bag.

"Your brother is quite the actor."

Dive flashed his brother a grin. Our father ran off with another guy and is a stripper."

"That's great Dive," Wildwing responded without enthusiasm.

Canard closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Shit, we're one short..." Regla swore.

"I'm not wearing a vest," Drebeer murmured, "so there's enough. Give it to the kid."

Regla's eyes flickered to Jenner hiding in the corner. "Are you sure?"

"I just said I was, didn't I?"

Regla looked away, "fine."

"Won't the Precinct realize these are missing?" Tanya asked.

"No, my lieutenant..."

Duke looked up, "your lieut- who?"

"Goodall, he was promoted not too long ago."

"What does he know?"

"I told him you are alive, that's it."

"Who in the hell is Goodall? Can we even trust him?" Drebeer snapped.

"Yes we can," Duke replied quietly. "He's a decent cop." He stood, "let's get moving."

**Author's note: A continuation of the song "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls begins this chapter.**


	8. Vertical Horizon

Mallory ignored the vest laying on the bed and instead focused on fitting her armor snuggly that had laid unworn for a year in her closet. It felt strange to her, wearing it again after not touching it for so long.

She heard a noise behind her, turning she saw it was only Duke, softly treading into the dark room.

"It still fits..." she murmured. "I don't know how after having-" She couldn't say his name; Duke understood who she meant.

"It suits you," he whispered.

She studied him for a moment, "you too."

He was wearing all black with combat boots she recognized as part of the city Special Forces Team's uniform. "You're not wearing the vest?" He nodded to her abandoned vest.

"No, you are?"

He shrugged, "Regla was insistent." He ran his hand over its bulky surface. "Never worn one before and now I know why. It's heavy."

"I can't believe we're doing this," she faced the window. "Mox is waiting for us, you know that. He has the power, not us...if it weren't for-Asher, I would say screw it and leave this frozen hell."

"I'm right with ya, kid." He had moved further into the room to stand next to her, placing a hand on the small of her back. "I'm sorry I lost my temper on Canard earlier, I know you heard it."

"It's fine," she responded quietly.

"No, it's not,"

she glanced at him to see him looking at her. Not answering, she laid her head against his chest and closed her eyes. _It was going to be a long night._

…...

**Hour 5**

Regla stood with the blueprint of Mox Corp laid out before him on the kitchen table. "There's ten of us...I'm thinking all siblings should split up."

"Why?" Dive asked.

"To protect family lines, is it smart to kill off two Flashblades or a L'orange and whatever your name is?" Regla directed at Duke and Drebeer.

"Fine, so you're splitting us up...what else?" Drebeer crossed his arms.

"I'll go through the front door."

"Regla, you're not comin' "

"Duke, don't tell me what to do."

"I agree with him," Mallory appeared in the kitchen, handing Jenner her vest. "I watched you die Regla...I'm not watching you do it again."

"I know the bed I'm lying in," Regla's face was slightly eerie in the shadows as his blackened beak was the only real seeable feature.

Mallory shook her head. Suddenly, she yanked Canard's gun out of his leg holster and pointed it at Regla's head before anyone really comprehended her actions. "If you're going through with this, then I'll finish you before Mox does."

Regla didn't move as he watched her. "You won't shoot."

She pulled the safety loose, "I will."

Duke picked something off the table. "Get Goodall..." He tossed the object, now seen as a communication unit, Regla caught it with one hand. Duke wrapped another set around his head, leaving the ear piece loose. "-And direct us-me."

Regla took a breath, "fine...I'll meet you on Phrozen Ave in twenty minutes." He attached the communication set to his head as well, also leaving the ear piece loose and started to leave.

"I'm coming with ya," Duke said firmly.

Regla paused for a brief moment and then nodded, waving him to follow.

…...

Lexer Goodall was about to call it a night when he heard his doorbell ring. He detoured through his living room and slid the lock back, opening the door. Regla was standing on his front porch.

"Regla? What's wrong?"

His captain jerked his head to the side, motioning him. "Nothing Lex, got something to talk to you about," Regla said loud enough for Neeria, Goodall's wife, to hear.

Goodall understood and shut his door, following Regla to his car. A dark figure was leaning against it. Upon coming closer, Goodall saw it was Duke L'orange.

"So it's true."

"Yeah," the grey duck replied quietly, "it's true. Mox has my son."

Goodall narrowed his eyes, "Melyin Mox?"

"Mox set Duke up, we think it was to get rid of him so some of Mox's illegal endeavors didn't get spilled...things Duke was apart of when he was a kid," Regla explained.

"And he has your kid?"

Duke nodded.

"So what are you going to do?"

"They're going to break in and get him back, they're making me stay outside and direct them. Thought you'd want to come with me."

Goodall was quiet for a moment, then, "sure. I'll get my coat." He disappeared into his house. Duke watched him attempt to reason with his wife, who looked put-out.

"Little high maintenance?" Duke suggested to Regla who turned around to see what he was talking about.

"Neeria? Sometimes," he responded, almost embarrassed. He shut his trap quickly as Goodall left the house.

…...

**Hour 6**:**One block from Mox Corp**

Grin felt empathy towards the new kid in the group, Jenner, as he tried not to show himself shaking. Twice he had muttered something about the cold, but the adults knew better, rather then humiliate him, no one commented.

"I've been in this building once," Regla was saying, "Mox's office is on the eighty-fourth floor and his penthouse is on the top floor-"

"He has a penthouse?" Dive piped up.

"A millionaire, why not?"

The blonde duck grumbled something.

"I don't care where or who you go with Duke, but I think you two should split," he gestured to the grey duck and Mallory. "And Grin should be with you."

Duke looked like he wanted to argue, but didn't.

"I don't like going in blind," Canard whispered to Wing, who agreed. Everyone heard him.

"Actually," Tanya fished for something. "We don't have to." She pulled the Drake Ducaine mask out, fully restored.

"I finished it last night," she explained, handing it to Wildwing.

He took it, speechless, before passing it to Canard. "It belongs to you."

Canard closed his hand around it, his expression unreadable. "No," he let go of it, "it belongs to you Wing, you're team captain."

"Where did you get that?" Goodall stared at the ivory mask in amazement.

"A long time ago," Canard answered.

"It's real?"

The Mighty Ducks nodded.

"We weren't twiddling our thumbs during the invasion," Mallory murmured, "and we'll leave it at that."

Wildwing hesitatingly brought the mask to his face, quickly all apprehension faded as the mask flashed gold and it activated.

Regla gazed at Wildwing for a moment before snapping out of it. "I guess we better get started."

…...

**Mox Corp**

Mox turned the lights down low and fell back into his large winged chair. He sipped from his wine glass and then lazily brought his attention to the small child sitting in a cage by the window. The L'orange brat had spent the last seven hours, rocking and crying quietly. Mox found it interesting that the boy mostly cried for his mother than father.

Occasionally, he would moan something incoherently about his father and then it would switch to the mother.

_Mallory McMallard, _he thought to himself, taking another sip.

As for the duckling, Mox had felt a thrill when he studied Asher L'orange for the first time. When his father had been here, Mox had been sure he had found a gene within Duke L'orange that explained his strange grey feathers, as there weren't many, if any, grey ducks walking around Puckworld.

It seems Asher L'orange followed in his father's footsteps. There were visible patches of grey that were triumphing over the dusty peach feathers. If Mox were to guess, since patches and not whole body parts were turning, Asher L'orange will be the first duck to harbor both colors from opposite ends of the color spectrum.

_Interesting._

…...

Duke dropped into the sewer after the rest of his teammates. "Earth to Reg 1," he muttered into the communication unit.

He heard a rush of static as Regla sighed, annoyed, above ground. "I'm going to kick your ass."

Despite the intense moment, Duke had to smile.

…...

"What do you see?" Regla was staring at the map of Mox Corp with Goodall holding a light to see.

"I see two walls and two directions in which to go," came Duke's reply.

Regla cursed.

"Hang on," Duke responded suddenly. Incoherent talking sounded in the background and then Duke was back. "Wing used the mask, we're heading towards what looks like an old escalator."

"Escalator, escalator..."Regla muttered, looking for it on the blueprint. Goodall pointed it out. "Okay good, be careful...Jenner should be able to get you around from there. Keep me posted."

"Will do."

…...

Canard got an upper cut to the chest as Jenner threw his hand out to stop him. "Ow."

"There's a camera above this thing," the kid pointed to somewhere above them.

"Why's that?" Nosedive put his hands on his hips.

"Because there's a hatch that brings us into Tier Dead."

"Why's it called Tier dead?" Tanya asked, her voice faint.

Jenner glanced at her, his face shadowed. "You'll see." With that he moved behind Canard and stuck to the shadows. The ducks watched him pull something from his pocket and toss it into a dark corner. What ever it was, it made a loud clang.

"What are you-!" Canard hissed, he froze when half a dozen or more lasers lines appeared in front of them. One of the lines less than a hair from Canard's chest. He took a step back.

"Don't move," Jenner instructed, slowly he began to carefully edge around the red spokes twisted and warped around the tunnel.

"What's happening?" Regla demanded in Duke's ear. "Duke answer me..."

"We're just having bit of a problem, that's all. Laser detection." Duke studied the dark air above him. Nothing appeared dangerous, but yet nothing ever did with Mox. Suddenly, he got a mental flash of something. Blinking he shook his head, confused. Glancing around he felt deja-vu as he took in the grey dark tunnel, like he had been here before.

"Duke?" Mallory touched his arm.

"Hold on a sec," he tried to remember what he had just seen, but it was gone, whatever it was. Then he had it again, this time, he remembered his thirteen-year-old self travelling this same tunnel. There was a switch in the top left corner of the cathedral ceiling in the tunnel; a switch that would shut the lasers down.

He pulled his grappling hook bracelet out of his satchel and quickly donned it. "Hold on kid." He fired the grappling hook into the air and felt it catch on something, launching himself into the air. He hooked his leg around a massive pipe and carefully pulled himself up onto it, feeling blindly for the switch. "I know you're here," he muttered.

"I know I am too," Regla responded.

"Shut up or I'm disconnecting you," Duke snapped. Properly chastised, Regla fell silent.

His hand bumped something, feeling for it again, his fingers closed around a switch. "Gotcha." He flipped it, throwing the tunnel into darkness again as the red lasers below him died. He dropped to the floor.

"What did you do?" Jenner glanced at the corner he had been in.

"There's a switch up there...I found it when I was thirteen."

"When you were thirte-? Your memory is returning," Regla realized on the other end of the communication unit.

"I guess, it's small increments."

The ducks stopped their discussion and focused on getting to the main floor of the corporation building.

…...

**Hour 7**

Nothing.

…...

**Hour 8**

Nothing.

…...

**Hour 9**

"Well, it appears that I underestimated mommy and daddy's concern for you," Mox bent down to survey Asher. "They're testing my patience and impulse control."

Asher looked away, sniffing, then he paused, seeing someone moving in the dark behind Mox. Mox noticed the child's sudden attentiveness behind him and smiled.

…...

Duke was older than any of the Mighty Ducks by at least three or four years. And because of that, he put up with 'old man' jokes. But now, he prayed his "oldness" wouldn't get in the way. He had told the others to fan out in the apartment, but to let him and Mallory handle this.

He quietly treaded through the dark, his gaze locked on the duck who had kidnapped his son. By his side was Mallory, her hazel eyes also on Mox. Her beautiful face set cold. It was times like this that Duke felt like they were one.

"Duke L'orange," Mox greeted without looking at him. "Welcome home."

Duke activated his saber, "I'm telling you once and only once, give me my son."

Mox wheeled around, sending a volley of bullets at him. Duke shoved Mallory out of the way and dove behind a ice sculpture that exploded, showering him with bits.

"Shit," Duke heard Regla curse, "Duke, can you hear me? What's happening!"

"Let me ask," Duke shot out from behind the damaged sculpture. He spun into the air, his foot catching Mox in the face, sending the considerably less athletic duck back into the cage that held Asher. The child cried out, afraid.

A blade appeared in Mox's hand as he jumped to his feet, wildly slashing at Duke, who slid back, barely missing it. He grabbed Mox's hand and propelled the duck's face into a pillar; Mox slid to the floor, seemingly unconscious.

Mallory darted out from the shadows, shooting the lock on the cage. "Asher."

"Momma!" He slid into her arms.

"We got him Reg-" Duke began, a sharp object stabbed him in the hip He let out a yell.

"Duke!" Mallory screamed.

Duke backhanded Mox, who had woken up, and swung his leg out, tripping Mox. "Damn," he swore, more pissed than in pain. He brought his saber down on Mox who rolled.

"No, stay!" Duke snapped to Canard who had come forward.

Mox glanced around, realizing Duke and Mallory weren't the only ones in his house. "How the hell-?"

"It was easy," Duke yanked the dagger out of his leg.

Mox's face twisted in fury, "your memory-"

"-It's back," Duke finished.

"Well then, it gives me even more incentive to kill you."

"It's over Mox."

"No, it's just the beginning!" Mox snarled. "You should have died with Redeye!"

Duke heard Regla take a breath, "get him talking Duke."

"Redeye?" Duke questioned, he circled around Mox who followed suit.

"When Falcone pulled that stove apart, do you really think Falcone was smart enough to kill someone on his own?

"Sure Redeye shot into gas, leading to the explosion. But I had a second bomb, the same one that propelled you through that door. Redeye was pissing me off."

And then you did the same to Regla, huh?"

Regla should have died too, he was lucky..too lucky. But you, you will die tonight as my last will and testament to this world."

Duke snorted. "You and what army?"

"Myself of course, it's always been me Duke." Mox was strangely calm. "You didn't think I'd send a spy among you and not have a backup plan should _he _turn on me?"

That was when Duke started to feel a chill.

"What did you do?"

"Only a small amount of CW5 implanted within Jenner's ribcage." Mox was smirking.

Silence, stunned silence.

"He's lying," Drebeer snapped, his hand unconsciously gripping Jenner's shoulder.

"Oh okay, you caught me," Mox began to laugh.

Duke felt an uncontrollable hatred towards the duck.

"But-there is, I can assure you CW5 on every floor of this building. I don't intend to have you kill me or me spend my time in some cell."

Then just like that he disappeared.

"What the hell?"

"Where did he go?"

Duke remained quiet. Then he booted a rug aside. A trapdoor was where Mox had been. He went to follow the duck, but a huge explosion rocked the building. Everyone was knocked over.

"He wasn't lying..."Drebeer was first to get to his feet, yanking Jenner up with him.

"He isn't going to let me go," the kid said.

"I know, so we'll hide you." Duke stood too. "Arron, take him and go."

"What? No." Drebeer argued.

"Arron, don't argue with me. Take him to the Brotherhood, tell them you found him on the street."

Another explosion rocked the building.

Drebeer stayed where he was, then he reached out, grasping Duke's shoulder. "You turned out to be a good kid. Don't die or I'll find you where ever you go."

With that, he towed Jenner to the window, shattered it with his elbow and fired his own grappling hook and leaped out the window.

"I want you to meet me outside, go to Regla, I'm sure PPD is almost here."

"I'm staying with you," Mallory stated. She handed Asher off the Tanya, who was crying loudly now.

"Momma!"

"No, go with him. I'll be right behind you."

"You're lying," she seethed. "I'm coming with you."

"Mallory," he grabbed her by the shoulders. "Go. I'll be behind you."

"I'm trusting you Duke," she said.

He felt a pang of guilt.

As she followed the others to the balcony, tethering herself in the harness she and the others were already wearing, she glanced at him expectantly.

He reached to her, checking the harness. He brushed her cheek, "I love you." Not caring like usual about the others, he brushed her lips.

She understood in that instant. "Duke!"

He shoved her off the ledge and jammed the pulley so she couldn't climb back up.

He glanced at the others, all shocked. "Go! I'll be behind you." He disappeared into the penthouse.

…...

Regla jerked his PD jacket on and thumped the hood of a cop car that had sped up to stop as the driver almost hit Nosedive. "Where's Duke?" He demanded.

"He has chosen the hero's path," Grin answered.

"Is he f***ing suicidal!" Relga turned around, shouting orders into his communication set. "Duke!" Get your ass out of there...the PD is here. I managed to transfer his confession to them."

All he got was static.

"Duke!" Two floors exploded, showering glass across the street, spraying the emergency crews and the Mighty Ducks.

Regla grabbed Tanya and shoved her to the ground behind a car, covering her and Asher who was screaming.

"Where's Asher!" He heard Mallory demanding. He popped up from his cover, "Tanya has him, they're right here."

She grabbed Asher.

"Go sit in the car..." he said.

"No, Duke's in there."

"I know, we're going to get him out." Regla reached out to her, squeezing her shoulder. "It's not safe out here for him." He nodded to Asher who had a choke hold on her.

At first he didn't think she was going to budge, but then she nodded and went to his car.

…...

**Same time**

Duke had followed the trapdoor chute to the basement. The long narrow chute had dumped him into a blue hued room. Looking around he realized what Jenner had meant about Tier Dead. Ducks who looked homeless, were stretched out, dead on metal tables.

"What the hell," Duke tiptoed into the room, repulsed, but unable to tear his eyes from the corpses. Huge cylinder containers contained more dead ducks, some with odd medical anomalies, others seemed fine.

"Do you like it?"

Duke jumped at the sudden question. Mox was standing closer than Duke was comfortable with. He backed away.

"Who are these people?"

"That's not the question, the question is what can they do for me?" Mox followed Duke. "I asked myself that question with you when I was seventeen."

"You murdered innocent people..."

"No," Mox snapped. "I got rid of vermin off the streets and used them for the good of science."

"Funny, my friend is a scientist and she never stooped this low."

Mox shrugged.

"The PD are outside Mox, its done...you're going to jail. I hope they give you the execution chair."

Mox smiled, "you would and you know what? I plan to leave and when I leave you're coming with me."

Duke didn't understand the meaning until it was too late. His eyes drifted the far corner of the room where he saw that there was a major support for the building strapped with CW5.

"That's not the only support with one of these babies." Mox flipped a remote lazily in his hand and pressed a button.

Duke closed his eyes.

…...

Regla and the chief had just gotten their men into order when it felt like an earthquake had gripped the earth and shook it.

Regla grabbed support on the nearest car and watched as the asphalt cracked and split. Then everything got really quiet, before a creaking noise, at first soft, quickly grew ear-piercing.

Regla looked up at the Mox Corp Building to see it begin to crumble. "Holy shit." He yanked the car's microphone out and began yelling orders.

"Everyone clear the road! Clear the road NOW! Move!"

All present scattered as the building began its free-fall to the ground.

Mallory set Asher down and threw the door of the car open, horrified. "No!" She started running towards the building before she knew it.

Someone grabbed her, holding her back.

"No! Duke's in there! He's in there!" She tried fighting them off, but couldn't.

The building slammed to the ground, throwing ash in every which direction, covering the air in barely breathable, and eye-blinding soot.

Ducks were coughing, and getting to their feet shakily.

Canard got to his own feet unsteadily, stunned. "Duke." There was no way anyone survived that, especially a duck who had nine lives like Duke L'orange.

Mallory was crying, her body shaking in Regla's arms who had caught her on her run towards the building.

…...

**Fifteen seconds before**

Duke fired his grappling hook at the chute he had come from, harrowingly missing several bullets as Mox attempted to shoot him down. Once in the chute, he fired again, hauling himself back up to the penthouse. If he ever made it out alive, he'd try to understand the chute and how it made a hole in the center of the building.

He reached the penthouse in time to hear the steel supports bend and snap like kindle. The building settled heavily, throwing him across the room, head over heels, into the balcony railing outside. He saw stars and tried to focus. The building settled again, this time crushing the first ten floors below him.

He struggled to his feet and shot his hook at the Cardinal Building next to him. Just as the penthouse collapsed along with the rest of Mox Corp, he was airlifted onto the neighboring roof.

He hit the roof on his feet, a piece of debris knocking the wind out of him and quickly tumbled to his knees, rolling. The air was thick with smoke and embers. He coughed, not believing he was alive.

Aching, he pulled to his feet and climbed on top of the ledge, looking down at the ducks below him.

He saw Regla holding Mallory who was grieving. Swallowing, he took his grappling hook off, permanently tying it to a gargoyle-like creature and released the safety so he could slide freely. He jumped off the roof, free-falling.

…...

Mallory couldn't move, so Regla picked her up, carrying her to a waiting emergency transport vehicle. "Treat her for shock." He took a blanket and draped it over her.

"No, stop, I'm fine," she waved the ET away as they attempted to help her.

"I'm sorry Mallory," Regla said. "I know that doesn't mean much...but I'm sorry."

She didn't answer.

She shut her eyes and then opened them. Regla had turned away, the sudden open space granting her view of someone tall and lithe in front of the Cardinal Building.

She slid off the ETV, her eyes frozen on the figure. "Duke," she whispered. She started to run towards the figure.

"Mallory!" She heard Regla behind her.

Looking a little worse for wear, Duke smiled at her and let her collide into him.

"I thought you were dead."

"It'll take more than that to kill me," he said into her hair.

She breathed a sigh of relief before a bout of anger clouded her giddiness. She punched him in the chest, immediately regretting it as she forgot he still had the bulletproof vest on. "Don't ever do that to me again!" Instead she shoved him.

He let her get her anger out. "I won't," he promised.

She lost her anger and hugged him again.

"We're free," he said.

She shook her head. "No, you're free."


	9. Author's Note

**Author's Note: **

**Well, like I said for Khaotic Katastrophie...I swore Lazarus Rising would be the last story in this mini-series...But Alas, I've decided on at least one more story. **

**So everyone who is a fan of these two stories, go party and everyone whose not a fan, go groan. :D**

**Anyway, this story is going to take place years later. I've found that, like so many of you, I've grown to love the characters, both oc and canon. **

**And so, enjoy!**


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